Critically ill patients see hope in "Right to Try" drugs

Lyons, Colarado

SINCE May last year, several states in America have passed laws that give critically ill patients the right to try medications that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Deemed "Right to Try" laws, they have passed quickly and often unanimously in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Louisiana and Arizona, bringing hope to patients such as Larry Kutt, who lives in this small town at the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

Mr Kutt, 65, has an advanced blood cancer and says his state's law could help him gain access to a therapy that several pharmaceutical companies are testing. "It's my life, and I want the chance to save it." The laws do not seem to have helped anyone obtain experimental medicine, as the dr…