PRESS RELEASE: Conservative Leaders and Patient Advocates Unite for FDA Reform

Published July 22, 2019

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (July 22, 2019) – On July 11, The Heartland Institute sent a coalition letter to President Donald Trump signed by representatives from 16 organizations in support of Heartland’s Free to Choose Medicine (FTCM) program, which would empower patients, advised by their doctors, to make informed decisions about whether to use drugs that have passed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Phase I safety trials and at least one Phase II efficacy test.

Unfortunately, it currently takes 12 years and $2.9 billion to bring a drug from lab to market. Free-market think tanks, policy advocates, and medical professionals believe health care decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats.

FTCM would save lives and end needless suffering by creating a Free to Choose Track, a parallel track for patients and their doctors to access potentially life-saving drugs years before they complete the full array of FDA trials.

The following statements from FDA reform experts at The Heartland Institute—a free-market think tank—may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000.

“Conservative leaders have spoken and are offering a free-market solution to one of the most vexing health care problems. Free to Choose Medicine increases patient freedom, reduces costs, and delivers potentially life-saving medication to patients with debilitating or terminal illnesses.”

Christina Herrin
Director, Free To Choose Medicine
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000

“The Free to Choose Medicine proposal is an economically sound and practical way for patients, advised by their doctors, to make informed decisions about the use of not-yet-approved drugs that have passed safety and initial efficacy trials. This is already working in Japan to the benefit of patients in dire need of innovative regenerative medical treatments.”

Bartley J. Madden
Policy Advisor
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000

Mr. Madden is the author of Free To Choose Medicine: Better Drugs Sooner at Lower Cost, a plan to save lives by reforming the drug-approval process in the United States.

The Heartland Institute is a 35-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our website or call 312/377-4000.