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Searching For An Alternative Brain Cancer Cure While Fighting The FDA

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 A scientist examining cells in a 96-well plate. These plates allow scientists to look at lots of cells at the same time and directly compare cells that have or have not been treated with a drug. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images/Cancer Research UK)
A scientist examining cells in a 96-well plate. These plates allow scientists to look at lots of cells at the same time and directly compare cells that have or have not been treated with a drug. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images/Cancer Research UK)

When Neil Fachon was 20, he was diagnosed with a rare and incurable brain tumor, a cancer so aggressive it usually kills people within a year. In search of any and all treatment options, Fachon found an experimental therapy being offered in Texas.

But just one day into the treatment, the FDA ordered the doctor offering it to stop. So Fachon and his family decided to sue the FDA for the right to keep trying the experimental drugs.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson talks to Bob Tedeschi, senior writer at the health and medicine publication STAT, about Fachon's suit against the FDA, and how far patients should be allowed to go in seeking out experimental, potentially life-saving treatments.

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This segment aired on June 1, 2016.

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