DC Cir. says dying patients don’t have a right to experimental drugs

People who are dying do not have the right to obtain unapproved drugsthat are potentially lifesaving, even if their doctors say thetreatment offers their best hope for survival, a U.S. appeals courthere ruled Tuesday.   In an 8-2 decision, the court said federaldrug regulators were entrusted by law with deciding when new drugs weresafe for wide use.  The families of terminally ill patients, several of whom died afterthey were denied promising drugs that were still in tests, filed suit.They said that patients who were dying were far more willing to takerisks and argued that they should not be forced to wait years for newtreatments to win final approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The judges said the families should take their pleas to Congress, not the courts. However,the two dissenters said the ruling ignored the Constitution’sprotection for individuals and their right to life, and instead bowedto “a dangerous brand of paternalism” that put the government’sinterest first.  Leaders of the Abigail Alliance for BetterAccess to Developmental Drugs said they would appeal to the SupremeCourt. The group was named in honor of Abigail Burroughs, a 21-year-oldUniversity of Virginia student who died of cancer in 2001. Her father,Frank, said she was denied the use of two investigational anti-cancerdrugs that were recommended by her oncologist. These drugs laterreceived FDA approval.

Source/more:  LA Times, http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-na-drugs8aug08,1,1864041.story?coll=la-health-medicine&ctrack=1&cset=true