Case for Compassionate use of Experimental Drugs

For a new drug to be approved it has to undergo clinical trials which occur in multiple
phases. To successfully go through these phases, there is need for extensive study and evidence
to ensure that the drug is both safe and effective for use by patients. Normally, drugs take many
years of clinical trials before they receive approval for use on patients. If the drug can potentially
be helpful, it may be used on patients who are not part of the clinical trials even before it is
approved. This paper shows that even though there are risks to such compassionate use of
experimental drugs, patients who have no other treatment options have a moral right to be given
such drugs.
Ethical principles that support compassionate use of experimental drugs
When deciding whether to provides patients with an experimental drug, physicians may
be worried that such a decision may not be ethical. Some experts have argued against using
experimental drugs on patients because of the risks involved in such use. Experimental drugs
often have many side effects which may not even be known at the time they are given the
patients (Raus, 2016). For this and other reasons, these experts have cautioned against using such
drugs. However, while experimental drugs may have major side effects, it is still important that
healthcare professionals use them on patients when there is possibility that they could be
effective. This is especially the case for patients who have no other treatment options. For such
patients, providing them with an experimental drug is supported by ethical principles of
autonomy and beneficence (Raus, 2016). The principle of autonomy requires that patients be in
full control of their treatment and be involved in decision-making of treatment options available
to them. Based on this principle physicians should provide patients with experimental drugs

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when the patients request for them. As for the principle of beneficence, it requires healthcare
professionals to always do good (Munson, 2014). When patients are faced with life-threatening
conditions and healthcare professionals are faced with the choice of not intervening at all or
intervening with an experimental drug that has not received approvals the latter choice best
exemplifies the principle of beneficence.
Role of the principle of informed consent in compassionate drug use
The principle of informed consent requires that researchers and healthcare professionals
only administer the experimental drug after receiving informed consent from the patients.
Informed consent means that patients have to be provided with all the relevant information about
the drug before it is given to them (Munson, 2014). It is worth noting that most experimental
drugs are not only ineffective but also have major side effects in the long term. It is, therefore,
important that patients be informed of all the possible side effects before receiving the drug.
When they have all the information about the likely side effects of the drug they may then decide
whether the potential benefits are significant enough to make the risks worth taking.
Costs and benefits of compassionate use of experimental drugs
There is no obligation for manufacturers to provide patients with experimental drugs at
no cost. In fact, experimental drugs are often more expensive than approved drugs. This is
because patients often have to meet the cost of not just manufacturing and shipping but also
reporting and monitoring of the drug use (Munson, 2014). Many patients are often willing to
meet the costs of the drug use because of the drug’s potential benefits. The main benefit of using
experimental drug is that it can potentially help patients facing serious and life-threatening
ailments. For instance, during the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, many patients faced

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almost certain death (Oduwole & Fayemi, 2016). For such patients, the use of an experimental
Ebola drug was the only option they had if they hoped to live.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that it is not only important but also ethical that patients receive
experimental drugs when faced with medical conditions that have no alternative treatment
options. Ethical principles of autonomy and beneficence support such drug use. Even though the
use of experimental drugs may be costly and risky, they have significant benefits that make such
use worthwhile.

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References

Munson, R. (2014). Intervention and reflection: Basic issues in bioethics (concise ed.). Boston,
MA: Wadsworth.

Oduwole, E. O., & Fayemi, K. A. (2016). The Ethics of Ebola Trial Drugs: to give or not to
give?. Journal of the Center for Bioethics and Research, 3, 22-40.

Raus, K. (2016). An analysis of common ethical justifications for compassionate use programs
for experimental drugs. BMC medical ethics, 17(1), 60.