The Right to Try: How the FDA Is Killing Americans
by Ben Shapiro10 Nov 2015
This week, Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater
Institute, released a vital and fascinating new book, The
Right to Try: How the Federal Government Prevents Americans from Getting the
Lifesaving Treatments They Need. It’s a must-read
rebuttal of the left’s number one argument for big government: the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) protects us
from evil capitalists who would alternatively poison us or toss us into meat
grinders for the viewing pleasure of Sinclair Lewis. Olsen argues persuasively
that the federal government kills Americans with its useless bureaucracy and
counterproductive belief that the government must protect sick Americans from
making their own decisions regarding their sickness.
The book begins with a description of Ted Harada, a young
father diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). ALS is a death sentence; it
has a 100% death rate, and the only question is whether death will come in five
years or two. But Harada had an experimental stem cell surgery at Emory
University that reversed his symptoms completely – until the FDA
stepped in to stop him from having further surgeries. Harada’s surgery is also
unavailable to the approximately 24,000 people who have died since Emory’s
clinical trial began.
Olsen points out:
In 2012 … there were just 940 requests for experimental
drugs approved in the entire country under the FDA’s compassionate use program.
According to the American Cancer Society, that same year about 1,638,910
Americans were diagnosed with and about 577,190 died from cancer alone.
Millions more are diagnosed each year with other terminal diseases. Clearly,
the system is failing to help the vast majority of Americans who are fighting
to save their lives.
Olsen advocates for the Right to Try: the right to attempt
to preserve your life so long as that attempt hurts no one else. Right to Try
legislation – legislation preserving the rights of terminally ill patients –
has now succeeded in states all over America.
The book is an eloquent tome on behalf of this Right to Try.
The stories in the book break your heart. Take, for example, the story of Jenn
McNary and her two sons, Austin and Max, both of whom suffered from Duchenne
muscular dystrophy. One of her sons, Max, received a lifesaving drug,
while the government banned the other son from receiving it. Jenn says Austin
“doesn’t understand why the grown-ups in his world can’t figure this out and
make things happen faster for him.” Jenn tried to work with a company called
Sarepta, but the FDA held them up, over and over again, despite the passage of
a new law that should have fast-tracked the development of the necessary drugs.
In the end, the FDA still has not invited Sarepta to apply for approval of the
necessary drug. That decision has left 12,000 to 16,000 boys out in the cold.
The FDA’s decision-making process is so problematic that
families are moving overseas to avoid its tentacles. Diego Morris, 11,
contracted osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. His parents wanted to put him in a
clinical trial for Mifamurtide, a biological therapy “that stimulates the
immune system to attack cancer.” Despite the fact that trials worked wonders
with the drug, the FDA met its application with hostility. In Europe, however,
drug approval moved smoothly. It has become standard care in countries from the
United Kingdom to Israel. Morris’ family ended up helping to push Right to Try
legislation through the Arizona legislature to fight the FDA.
The book isn’t just stories. It explains how companies have
had to battle with the FDA, and how individuals have had to pay a massive price
in health and cash to fight the agency. It explains how the FDA’s so-called
“compassionate use” program hasn’t fulfilled its promise to Americans. Polls of
doctors show that physicians feel that medical specialists are hindered by the
FDA’s processes when it comes to treating terminally ill patients.
This is a bipartisan issue, says Olsen: “We are the 99
percent. We demand change, and we will get it.” They call on Americans to use
social media to fight for Right to Try – social pressure, says the Goldwater
Institute, is the key to moving the agenda forward. “When patients and parents
know a drug is working,” writes Olsen, “they are not going to sit back and wait
years for the FDA to satisfy itself with near-100 percent certitude about the
efficacy of a drug. Patients are demanding action.”
So should we all. And picking up a copy of The Right
to Try would be a great first step.
Emory University
John
G. Rice is a trustee at the Emory
University, and a board member for the CDC
Foundation.
Note: CDC Foundation
is a foundation for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Jeffrey P. Koplan
was a director at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and is the VP for the Emory University.
David
Satcher is a board member for the CDC
Foundation, was a director at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the surgeon general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
Margaret A.
Hamburg was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a commissioner
for the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and is a VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Donald
Kennedy was a commissioner for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank),
the Harlem Children's Zone, and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society,
and a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone.
Mark B. McClellan
was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a
commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and an administrator of Medicare and Medicaid for the
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, is the founder for the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety.
John
J. Mack was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, is a director at the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and the CDC
Foundation.
CDC Foundation
is a foundation for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Bloomberg
Philanthropies is an umbrella organization for the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and was a funder for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Jeffrey P. Koplan
is a board member for the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative, the VP for the Emory
University, and was a director at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Saftey, Gun
Control” group for guns.
Warren E. Buffett
is an advisory board member for the Everytown
for Gun Safety, and an adviser for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Margaret A.
Hamburg is a VP for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Donald
Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and a commissioner for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Mark B. McClellan
was a commissioner for the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), an administrator of Medicare and Medicaid for the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), and is a director at Research!America.
John Edward Porter
is a chair for Research!America, and
was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
John R. Seffrin
is a director at Research!America,
and the CEO for the American Cancer
Society.
Tenley E.
Albright is a director at Research!America,
and a director at the Bloomberg Family
Foundation.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and the CDC
Foundation.
CDC Foundation
is a foundation for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Bloomberg
Philanthropies is an umbrella organization for the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and was a funder for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Jeffrey P. Koplan
is a board member for the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative, the VP for the Emory
University, and was a director at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
John
G. Rice is a trustee at the Emory
University, and a board member for the CDC
Foundation.
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