A new front in the battle over 'right to try'

A private equity firm wants to launch a chain of cancer centers focused primarily on experimental medicines — particularly those available under the controversial "right to try" law that went into effect two years ago.

The chain, called United Cancer Centers, is being backed by Vivaris Capital. It says it provides “integrative cancer care,” which entails sidestepping the FDA when determining whether dying patients can access drugs still being tested in clinical trials, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes. Although the concept is meant to expand treatment options for terminal patients, it has drawn some scrutiny.

As one medical ethics researcher put it: The effort “translates to: ‘profit on the backs of desperately ill and dying patients who will be willing to pay whatever we charge for a remote chance of saving their lives.’”