A measure that allows terminally ill patients the right to try experimental drugs, co-sponsord by Rep. Tom Longstaff, D-Waterville, was signed by Gov. Paul LePage Wednesday.

The law, known as “Right to Try,” allows eligible terminally ill patients access to drugs that have completed the first phase of U.S. Food and Drug Administration clinical trials, but have not yet been approved for general use, according to a news release from the House Democratic Office Thursday. Some 26 states already have Right to Try laws.

“In cases of terminal illness, I believe it should be the patient’s decision to explore using innovative treatments that are already in the approval pipeline,” said Longstaff in the release Thursday. “It’s really about giving people the choice.”

At the measure’s public hearing last year, the Maine Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers was among those supporting the bill.

“We believe that when patients have run out of traditional options, if they wish to use experimental medicines, there can be two good outcomes,” said Susan Lamb, executive director of the organization, in the release. “The patient is at peace knowing they have tried all options, and it is possible that some of these treatments will lead to new discoveries in medicine that may prolong a person’s life or even make their end-of-life experience less uncomfortable.”

The FDA currently allows dying individuals access to drugs that are still in clinical trials, but the new law streamlines the process by creating a mechanism to access these treatments directly for patients with six months or less to live.

The law, co-sponsored by Sen. Eric Brakey, R-New Gloucester, will go into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session.

“I was pleased to be the lead sponsor of this legislation and to have bipartisan support for the initiative,” Longstaff said in a news relese from the Goldwater Institute, a conservative lobbying group. “While I understand why some people have reservations about the policy, it provides a real freedom of choice for people who are facing end-of-life decisions. It is time for them to have this freedom.”

Right To Try is limited to patients with a terminal disease who have exhausted all conventional treatment options and cannot enroll in a clinical trial, according to the institute. All medication available under the law must have successfully completed basic safety testing and be part of the FDA’s on-going approval process.

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