First US Hub For Experimental Medical Treatments Is Coming

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.'

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