Professor Ikemoto Comments on ‘Right-to-Try' Drug Laws for Comstock's
Professor Lisa Ikemoto commented for Comstock's on "right-to-try" laws that allow terminally ill patients to access experimental medications not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"These laws only guarantee a right to try experimental drugs; they do not guarantee a right to access them," said Ikemoto.
Shipping such drugs across state lines is still illegal, and pharmaceutical companies are generally unwilling to risk their investment in a drug by allowing people to access it before it has been fully tested, she added.
Lisa Ikemoto teaches bioethics and health law courses at the UC Davis School of Law. She has written extensively on genetic and reproductive technology, the regulation of fertility and pregnancy, and race and gender disparities in health care. Her current work examines emerging issues in regenerative medicine, including stem cell research, and the human tissues market.