Today, the vast majority of drugs available for patient use have gone through a rigorous system of human clinical trials supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to ensure the drugs are safe and efficacious. There are now citizen advocacy groups that seek use of drugs not yet approved by the FDA, to be administered to terminally ill patients who have exhausted all other available means of therapy. The FDA has programs for terminal patients, under the supervision of their physicians, to use unapproved drugs; however, the advocacy groups seek access to drugs in much earlier phases than is now allowed, raising serious safety concerns for patients. Use of drugs outside of the clinical trials system undermines the integrity of the FDA’s drug development process by slowing enrollment, which in turn slows approval and timely access of safe and efficacious drugs to all of society.
","abstract_html":"<p>Today, the vast majority of drugs available for patient use have gone through a rigorous system of human clinical trials supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to ensure the drugs are safe and efficacious. There are now citizen advocacy groups that seek use of drugs not yet approved by the FDA, to be administered to terminally ill patients who have exhausted all other available means of therapy. The FDA has programs for terminal patients, under the supervision of their physicians, to use unapproved drugs; however, the advocacy groups seek access to drugs in much earlier phases than is now allowed, raising serious safety concerns for patients. Use of drugs outside of the clinical trials system undermines the integrity of the FDA’s drug development process by slowing enrollment, which in turn slows approval and timely access of safe and efficacious drugs to all of society.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hoeft-Loyer, Christine M"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Health Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Stephen Sonstein, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2007,"date_issued":"2007-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2007-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:24Z","subjects":["Terminally ill legal status","laws","etc. United States","Drugs Safety regulations United States","United States","Food and Drug Administration","Health and Medical Administration"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/15","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Stephen Sonstein, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hoeft-Loyer, Christine M"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Health Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Terminally ill legal status","laws","etc. United States","Drugs Safety regulations United States","United States","Food and Drug Administration","Health and Medical Administration"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/15"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Today, the vast majority of drugs available for patient use have gone through a rigorous system of human clinical trials supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to ensure the drugs are safe and efficacious. There are now citizen advocacy groups that seek use of drugs not yet approved by the FDA, to be administered to terminally ill patients who have exhausted all other available means of therapy. The FDA has programs for terminal patients, under the supervision of their physicians, to use unapproved drugs; however, the advocacy groups seek access to drugs in much earlier phases than is now allowed, raising serious safety concerns for patients. Use of drugs outside of the clinical trials system undermines the integrity of the FDA’s drug development process by slowing enrollment, which in turn slows approval and timely access of safe and efficacious drugs to all of society.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Approval of new drugs by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration: Problems with the process and access to unapproved drugs"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Stephen Sonstein, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Hoeft-Loyer, Christine M"],"dc:description.abstract":["Today, the vast majority of drugs available for patient use have gone through a rigorous system of human clinical trials supervised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to ensure the drugs are safe and efficacious. There are now citizen advocacy groups that seek use of drugs not yet approved by the FDA, to be administered to terminally ill patients who have exhausted all other available means of therapy. The FDA has programs for terminal patients, under the supervision of their physicians, to use unapproved drugs; however, the advocacy groups seek access to drugs in much earlier phases than is now allowed, raising serious safety concerns for patients. Use of drugs outside of the clinical trials system undermines the integrity of the FDA’s drug development process by slowing enrollment, which in turn slows approval and timely access of safe and efficacious drugs to all of society.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/15"],"dc:subject":["Terminally ill legal status","laws","etc. United States","Drugs Safety regulations United States","United States","Food and Drug Administration","Health and Medical Administration"],"dc:title":["Approval of new drugs by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration: Problems with the process and access to unapproved drugs"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Health Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:24Z"}