Board of Supervisors Supports Terminally Ill Patients' Access to Experimental Drugs

The Board of Supervisors voted today to support state legislation to allow terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs and treatments.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich recommended the legislative push, saying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “compassionate use” program involves too much red tape.

“Terminally ill patients should not have to navigate the FDA’s bureaucratic process to access a drug and treatment that may help save their life,” Antonovich, who is in Washington, D.C., and did not attend today’s board meeting, said in a statement.

The motion he authored included the story of 25-year-old Mikaela Knapp of Folsom who suffered from metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney disease.

Knapp was denied participation in clinical trials because of the advanced stage of her cancer. She and her husband, Keith, launched a social media campaign urging the FDA to relax its rules, to no avail, and she died on April 24.

“The sad story of Mikaela and Keith, unfortunately, is not a rarity,” Antonovich wrote. He noted the World Health Organization’s endorsement of unproven drugs for Ebola patients. “Some chance is better than none.”

Five states -- Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan and Arizona -- have passed “right to try” laws. Under those laws, terminally ill patients can get access to drugs and treatments that have passed only an initial FDA safety trial with approval from a physician and the drug manufacturer.

Critics say the law undermines the FDA approval process and that untested drugs could result in a patient dying faster or more painfully.

“Many new drugs can make you die faster,” Arthur Caplan, a professor who heads the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, said in a “PBS NewsHour” interview. “You can also die more miserably from access to a new drug.”

The board’s vote was 3-0. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas also did not attend today’s meeting.

—City News Service

Image: Wikimedia Commons