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Accessing Experimental Drugs Through the Compassionate Use Doctrine

BY Janice G. Inman
February 26, 2009

In last month's issue, we discussed how Jacob Gunvalson, when denied entry into a clinical trial for a drug that might offer valuable treatment for his terminal disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), sued the drug manufacturer to compel it to seek a “compassionate use” exemption from the FDA so that he could take the unapproved drug, PTC 124. In conjunction with that suit, he sought a preliminary injunction, which the district court granted. The drug's manufacturer, PTC Therapeutics Inc., appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Gunvalson v. PTC Therapeutics Inc., Slip Copy, 2008 WL 5227189 (C.A.3 (N.J.), 12/16/08).

The Third Circuit Reverses

The Third Circuit noted that it could reverse the lower court's grant of injunctive relief “only if the court abused its discretion, committed an obvious error in applying the law, or made a serious mistake in considering the proof.” Loretangeli v. Critelli, 853 F.2d 186 (3d Cit. 1988). Despite this high hurdle for the defense, the appellate court found it must reverse. So, what went wrong for Jacob and his family?

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