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Right to Try Act on the move in Harrisburg

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(Harrisburg) — The state Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee has given its approval to what’s known as the Right to Try Act.

The bill would give terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs and treatments not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Bill sponsor, state Representative Robert Godshall, says the issue became personal after he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, and told he was over the age limit to receive a stem cell transplant.

“What I did was I went down to the University of Pennsylvania, and if I wouldn’t have been in the legislature, I don’t think I would have been able to get them to do what they did.  The stem cell transplant lasted me for about three years and then a drug came along which is no cure, but I have to go down and they tell how much of the drug I have to take on a regular basis,” he said.

Godshall says you shouldn’t have to pull strings to get the necessary treatment.

The bill now heads to the full state Senate.

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