‘Right-To-Try’ Advocates Help Pass Laws In California, 32 Other States As Movement Gains Foothold
The legislation aims to allow terminally ill patients access to experimental treatments not yet approved by the FDA. Today's other public health stories report developments on a link between breast implants and a deadly cancer, the youngest opioid victims and the latest on the bird flu outbreak.
Stat:
'Right To Try' Is Becoming The Law Of The Land, State By State
Over the past three years, “right-to-try” advocates in 33 states have helped enact legislation to eliminate legal obstacles blocking terminally ill patients from treatments that aren’t yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Those advocates are showing considerable momentum in the remaining 17 states, potentially upending the established order for experimental drugs. The movement has been fueled in no small part by the anti-regulatory sentiment that propelled Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency and by the explicit support of Vice President Mike Pence. (Tedeschi, 3/23)
NPR:
Breast Implants Linked To Rare Blood Cancer In Small Proportion Of Women
The Food and Drug Administration says at least nine women have died of a rare blood cancer after receiving breast implants, and that the agency is officially acknowledging an association between the implants and the disease. On Tuesday, the agency announced that as of Feb. 1, it had received 359 breast implant-associated reports of a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma called anaplastic large cell lymphoma, or ALCL. (Hersher, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
Some Of The Youngest Opioid Victims Are Curious Toddlers
Curious toddlers find the drugs in a mother's purse or accidentally dropped on the floor. Sometimes a parent fails to secure the child-resistant cap on a bottle of painkillers. No matter how it happens, if a 35-pound toddler grabs just one opioid pill, chews it and releases the full concentration of a time-released adult drug into their small bodies, death can come swiftly. (Ehlke, 3/23)
The Associated Press:
Expert: Bird Flu Outbreak Nation's Worst Since 2015
A bird flu outbreak that has led officials to euthanize more than 200,000 animals in three Southern states already is the nation's worst since 2015 and new cases are still popping up, an expert said Wednesday. (Reeves, 3/22)