By Gary Grado | Arizona Capitol Times
It’s been 28 days since her last infusion of powerful chemicals to fight her cancer and Laura Knaperek settles in for another one.
The former lawmaker is cheerful, sitting upright in a recliner as a machine clicking like a metronome pumps a mixture of substances through dangling tubes into her body at the University of Arizona Cancer Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Even though Knaperek, 59, is in the second round of chemotherapy since she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2012, she’s not letting up on her political consulting tasks, one of which is leading one of two campaigns to pass Proposition 303.
The measure, known as Right to Try, allows drug makers and people who are terminally ill to bypass the federal government to use unproven drugs. The argument for it is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration takes too long to approve drugs, many of which are already on the market in Europe, effectively driving up their cost while people die.
