The FDA relaxed regulations to provide access to experimental drugs for patients who are seriously ill and have exhausted all other commercially available resources, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In theory, I believe expanding access to medication for people who are extremely ill is a good thing. However, broader access to experimental drugs could potentially increase the risk of injury or death via the use of these drugs.
As an injury lawyer who’s represented clients hurt by prescription medications, the safety and well-being of people taking various medications is important to me.
As the name implies, experimental drugs have not been completely vetted or gone through rigorous testing and studies. There is an inherent risk that the adverse effects of these drugs could harm individuals more than help them.
For example, an experimental diabetes drug manufactured by Eli Lilly and Co. which was shown to 10,000 times more potent than fibrates, a current cholesterol treatment, proved to be largely ineffective in its intended objective to raise good HDL cholesterol, according to USA Today. The problem was along with the increase in good cholesterol came an increase the risk of kidney, heart and other serious problems.
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