WASHINGTON, 31 May (BelTA - Xinhua) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a new bill titled "Right to Try" which allows terminally ill patients to seek drugs that are still experimental and not fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"As I proudly sign this bill, thousands of terminally ill Americans will have the help, the hope and the fighting chance -- and I think it's going to be better than chance -- that they will be cured, that they will be helped, that they will be able to be with their families for a long time, or maybe just for a longer time," Trump said.
Under the legislation, patients who are near death, or who have a disease that is likely to lead to severely premature death, have the right to seek drug treatments that remain in clinical trials after passing phase 1 of the FDA approval process.
The House on Tuesday voted 250-169 in favor of the bill, which the Senate passed in August.
Right-to-try laws exist in 40 of U.S. 50 states.
