Access to Unapproved Medical Interventions in Cases of Catastrophic Illness.

The article discusses the issue of access of people with catastrophic illnesses to unapproved medical interventions and investigational new agents. Topics discussed include voluntary participation in clinical research to guarantee clinical research integrity and not as means to gain access to investigational new agents, sharing of patient information and need to ensure efficient evaluation of available data, and equitable access of clinically eligible patients to investigational new agents.