US Congressman Mo Brooks
Washington, DC – As a co-sponsor of H.R. 5247, the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2018, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) commended his colleagues for passing this legislation that allows terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs that have passed the FDA’s Phase 1 approval process:
“I’m proud the House passed Right to Try, and I was honored to co-sponsor of the Right to Try Act in the memory of Steve Mayfield, who died from ALS after being denied experimental treatments that could have prolonged his life and alleviated his pain. No American should have to suffer when their government holds the keys to lifesaving drugs. These terminally ill patients are already in the fight of their lives—they don’t need to fight their government, as well.
“Thankfully, with the passage of H.R. 5247, no more American families will have to have to live knowing their loved ones might have had longer, potential life-saving treatments denied to them by the federal government. Unfortunately, passage of Right to Try by the House came too late for Steve Mayfield and for his family.”
Congressman Brooks was inspired to co-sponsor the Right to Try Act by the story of Steve Mayfield, a respected high school football coach at Central High School in Lauderdale County, Alabama, who in March 2017, died after a lengthy fight with both Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and a federal bureaucracy that denied him the right to try potentially life-saving experimental treatments.
Congressman Brooks gave a floor speech on January 17 that can be viewed here.
The full text of H.R. 5247, the Right to Try Act can be viewed here.
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