Health Policy and Bioethics Consortia 'Access to Investigational Drugs and Stem Cell Treatments via Right to Try Laws: Legal and Ethical Considerations'


Event starts 12:30pm EST The Health Policy and Bioethics Consortia is a monthly series that convenes two international experts from different fields or vantage points to discuss how biomedical innovation and health care delivery are affected by various ethical norms, laws, and regulations. They are organized by the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics and the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL) at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in collaboration with the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University

Access to investigational drugs has been a controversial topic during the COVID19 pandemic: what is the level of evidence required? How do we evaluate individual access requests, particularly from public figures such as outgoing Presidents? How does providing access change the ability to acquire fundamental information about these products? In May 2018, the Right to Try Act was signed into law, creating a new pathway for patients with life-threatening conditions to access investigational products prior to FDA approval. Prior to the federal law, more than half of states had passed their own versions of right to try. Two expert panelists will consider the scientific, legal, and ethical issues relating to access to investigational treatments and how Right to Try laws change the landscape for the future