What’s Happening to the ‘Right to Try’?
Derek Hunter
One of the accomplishments of the first Trump administration, one that President Trump regularly hyped himself, was the right to try. That is the ability of people “diagnosed with a life-threatening disease or condition” to try medicines still in the trial phase, not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In those cases, where all approved and conventional treatments have failed, it gives hope where it otherwise would not be.
So, what happened to that?
The right to try is still the law of the land and is racking up success stories. The Goldwater Institute reports on a Naval aviator who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and was helped significantly by an experimental treatment. The pilot, Matt Bellina, “was one of the first beneficiaries of the federal law that carries his and a handful of other patient advocates’ names. In 2019, he began receiving an investigational treatment under the law, and within weeks, he experienced improvements in his breathing and physical strength. Matt, a husband and father of young sons, has now significantly outlived his expected prognosis of just two to five years.”
It is impossible to know what would have happened without the right to try, but we know it was good. Matt is still alive.
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https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/08/03/whats-happening-to-the-right-to-try-n2661313
