FDA access to experimental cancer treatments debated

A case study of a young woman from South Carolina highlights the disparity in access to experimental medical treatments between the United States and the United Kingdom. After being diagnosed with glioblastoma, the patient utilized a personalized immunotherapy developed by an American company to clear a brain tumor.

Despite the treatment originating in the U.S., the patient must travel to London to receive doses because licensed physicians in Britain can prescribe promising treatments that have not yet received limited or trial approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The situation underscores a debate regarding whether patients with terminal or debilitating diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, should have the right to access experimental therapies before full regulatory approval.