Plan ensures patients have access to potentially lifesaving treatments

The House Health Policy Committee today approved state Rep. Mary Whiteford’s plan to expand the Right to Try Act to include clinical trials and other measures for treating COVID-19 that are under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Michigan’s Right to Try Act was created in 2014 with the intent of allowing terminally ill patients access to experimental therapies, medical treatments and more that have completed the first phase of testing but have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Whiteford’s plan would add COVID-19 to the list of conditions included in the act, giving patients the opportunity to try any potentially life-saving medication and treatments their doctors believe are best for them.

Whiteford said clinical trials are a widely accepted form of treating countless other life-threatening diseases and conditions and she believes COVID-19 should be no different.

“The Right to Try Act has undoubtably saved numerous lives in the years since its implementation in Michigan,” said Whiteford, a registered nurse and chair of the House Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. “Michigan’s COVID-19 death toll has reached staggering and unacceptable heights. Adding COVID-19 to the list of conditions included in the act is a necessary and ethical step to protect more people from succumbing to the deadly virus. The people of Michigan have the right to access health care measures they need to survive.”

House Bill 5637 was approved by the committee with bipartisan support and now moves to be considered by the full House.

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