 
August 13, 2009
FDA Expands Access to Unapproved Drugs for Critically Ill Patients
The U.S. government has finalized rules that grant critically ill patients special access to experimental medicine when they no longer have other drug options, Reuters reports.
According to the article, since 1970 programs have made experimental medicines available to patients outside clinical trials, including people with AIDS-related diseases, cancer and other conditions.
However, in an effort to encourage more drug companies to provide medicine for those who are critically ill, the new rules will allow companies to obtain permission from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) under certain circumstances to charge patients; this will allow the companies to recover their costs.
Karen Riley, FDA spokeswoman, estimates that the new rules will increase individual patient applications by 50 percent; currently, they average 659 annually.
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David Capogna, NYC, 2009-08-18 09:39:27
Are the drugs available still overpriced?
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