A law to give terminally ill patients access to medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process but are not yet on pharmacy shelves is scheduled for a hearing and public testimony in the state Senate Health & Provider Services Committee on Wednesday.

HB 1065, The Indiana Right to Try Act, is sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The Senate Health & Provider Services Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 4. The Indiana State House unanimously passed the bill last month, now the bill moves to the Senate for consideration.

Right To Try laws are already in place in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri. Twenty-seven states in addition to Indiana are considering the law this year. Ten of those states have already passed the law through one chamber of their Legislatures since Jan. 1.

Last week, Virginia lawmakers sent the bill to the governor on a unanimous, bipartisan vote. Utah lawmakers sent the bill to their governor yesterday. The national bipartisan effort to give terminally ill Americans access to investigational medications is being led by the Goldwater Institute.

The FDA has a process that allows people to ask permission to access investigational medicines. This “Compassionate Use” process takes hundreds of hours of paperwork and months to navigate. While many people ultimately receive FDA permission, there are dozens of documented cases of people dying while waiting on their approval.

The hearing will be at the Indiana state capitol in room 431. For more information about Right To Try contact Starlee Coleman at (602) 758-9162 or [email protected].