[dahart]

This may reach nobody, but FWIW I meant to use this link in the sibling comment: https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/147475-evolving-ethics-...

“The Right to Try Act was ‘unnecessary in the first place’, according to Kearns. Terminally or seriously ill patients have had the ability to access investigational drugs via the FDA Expanded Access (EA) pathway for decades.”

“most people overestimate the odds researchers will determine an experimental drug is safe and effective”

“if an adverse event occurs in a patient who took the drug outside a clinical trial, it could lead to negative repercussions for eventual drug availability. […] Right to try also could divert patients away from participating in clinical trials.“

And to answer your question, your first sentence made the case. All currently approved drugs represent previously unapproved treatments. The FDA is approving 100-200 drugs per year, and processing around 2000 investigational drugs per year. No idea what you mean when you claim progress has stopped, that comment doesn’t reflect reality. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/histories-fda-regulated-produc...