The Availability Problem:

Imagine you have cancer, or chronic pain, or a progressive degenerative disease of some sort. You have exhausted the traditional treatment options available to you, and none of them have worked. However, there are treatments that are still undergoing clinical trials which might help you. They are not fully approved yet, but your situation is dire and you don’t have time to wait another 10 years for the trials to finish. Can you access those treatments?

In theory yes, you can access unapproved treatments through federal laws like the 2018 Right to Try bill, or through FDA pathways like “Expanded Access”. However these laws don’t mandate that the company making the drug gives it to you. And what you will find when you try to use your Right to Try, or Expanded Access, is that there are almost no treatments available for use.

That's why despite there being somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,000,000 Americans with terminal or serious illness, the FDA only grants about 2,000 Expanded Access requests per year, even though they approve 99% of all requests, typically within 24 hours. There just aren’t enough companies even bothering to apply.

No one [...]

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First published:
May 9th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/oTwKS5iWZ6Dz84vtf/why-you-can-t-use-your-right-to-try

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Table showing numbers of eligible drugs and biological products across three reporting periods with clinical outcomes data usage.

Map showing U.S. states' therapeutic access laws by category with legend.

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“Why You Can’t Use Your Right to Try” by Stephen Martin

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Why You Can’t Use Your Right to Try” by Stephen Martin