Right To Try: Our Best Shot at Saving Healthcare

Despite serious opposition from many within the regulatory community, the public overwhelming supports RTT. Fortunately, so does Donald Trump.

by Patrick Cox
February 13, 2018

The Right to Try (RTT) movement may be our best shot at saving the healthcare system. It may also be your best personal chance at living long enough to benefit from next-generation biotechnologies that will extend healthspans far beyond current limitations.

RTT legislation gives dying people the freedom to use unapproved drugs that have passed safety trials. The logic is simple: terminal patients shouldn’t be denied unproven therapies, since the worst-case scenario is already playing out. Worrying that a drug may cause side effects or won’t work when a patient is doomed anyway is sort of silly.

The truth is, this basic argument still vastly understates the importance of RTT.

Our outdated regulatory system, designed for 20th-century medicine, is holding back innovation and is rapidly failing. This failure is multifaceted, but let’s focus for now on the 800-pound gorilla in the room—the inability of government institutions to keep pace with technological inno…