Court Turns Down Drug Access Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that asserts terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to experimental drugs, SCOTUSblog reports.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had found there was no right of access in an en banc August opinion.

The plaintiffs had claimed terminally ill patients had a right to use drugs that had undergone preliminary safety testing by the Food and Drug Administration, the Associated Press reports. One of the organizations that filed suit, the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, was formed by Frank Burroughs, whose daughter, Abigail, died of cancer in 2001. She was denied access to experimental medication that was later approved by the FDA.