Our 25 organizations, representing patients with serious health conditions and disabilities and their providers, applaud the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling reversing the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al. v FDA et al, on the grounds that the plaintiffs don’t have standing in their challenge concerning the use and availability of Mifepristone, a drug prescribed for the treatment of a variety of life-threatening conditions, including cancer. We remain concerned that different plaintiffs will continue to pursue dangerous and unfounded arguments that undermine the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decisions about drug safety. Today’s ruling allows the possibility that others will continue pursuing the challenge to the FDA’s decisions regarding Mifepristone and that future litigants will seek to block or limit access to other FDA-approved drugs and treatments for reasons unrelated to safety and efficacy, as warned in our amicus brief.
Generations of Americans have trusted the FDA’s expertise, which, over time, has yielded rigorous, science- and evidence-based approval of tens of thousands of lifesaving and life-changing medications and devices for people with serious health conditions. FDA experts are best equipped to determine the safety and efficacy of medications and their conditions of use, and it is dangerous to eviscerate or dilute their authority.
We unequivocally support the FDA’s role in safeguarding patients and urge the Department of Justice to continue rigorously defending that authority.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The ALS Association
American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Hematology
The Arc
Arthritis Foundation
Association for Clinical Oncology
CancerCare
Council of Medical Specialty Societies
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Epilepsy Foundation
Friends of Cancer Research
HealthyWomen
Hemophilia Federation of America
Lupus Foundation of America
Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Organization for Rare Disorders
National Patient Advocate Foundation
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association