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Title: First US Hub For Experimental Medical Treatments Is Coming

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/05/14/2...

Montana has passed a bill allowing licensed clinics to offer experimental
medical treatments that haven't been approved by the FDA, provided the drugs
have passed phase I safety trials. MIT Technology Review reports: The bill,
which was passed by the state legislature on April 29 and is expected to be
signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, essentially expands on existing Right to
Try legislation in the state. But while that law was originally designed to
allow terminally ill people to access experimental drugs, the new bill was
drafted and lobbied for by people interested in extending human lifespans --
a group of longevity enthusiasts that includes scientists, libertarians, and
influencers. These longevity enthusiasts are hoping Montana will serve as a
test bed for opening up access to experimental drugs. [...] Supporters of the
bill say it gives individuals the freedom to make choices about their own
bodies. At the same event, bioethicist Jessica Flanigan of the University of
Richmond said she was "optimistic" about the measure, because "it's great any
time anybody is trying to give people back their medical autonomy."
Ultimately, they hope that the new law will enable people to try unproven
drugs that might help them live longer, make it easier for Americans to try
experimental treatments without having to travel abroad, and potentially turn
Montana into a medical tourism hub. But ethicists and legal scholars aren't
as optimistic. "I hate it," bioethicist Alison Bateman-House of New York
University says of the bill. She and others are worried about the ethics of
promoting and selling unproven treatments -- and the risks of harm should
something go wrong. [...] At any rate, the clinics are coming to Montana,
says [Dylan Livingston, founder and CEO of the Alliance for Longevity
Initiatives]. "We have half a dozen that are interested, and maybe two or
three that are definitively going to set up shop out there." He won't name
names, but he says some of the interested clinicians already have clinics in
the US, while others are abroad." Mac Davis -- founder and CEO of Minicircle,
the company that developed the controversial "anti-aging" gene therapy --
told MIT Technology Review he was "looking into it." "I think this can be an
opportunity for America and Montana to really kind of corner the market when
it comes to medical tourism," says Livingston. "There is no other place in
the world with this sort of regulatory environment."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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