Gov. Mary Fallin has signed legislation that makes Oklahoma the 15th state in the nation to permit terminally ill patients to have access to experimental medications and procedures that are being used in clinical trials but are not yet on pharmacy shelves.
The measure, known as the Right to Try Act, was among 57 bills Fallin signed into law Tuesday.
The Right to Try measure by Democratic Rep. Richard Morrissette of Oklahoma City gives terminally ill patients the option of obtaining medications or devices that have passed the first of multiple phases of U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing.
The FDA has a process that allows individual patients to ask permission to access investigational medicines, but fewer than 1,000 people a year receive help.
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