Sen. William A. Walaska is sponsoring legislation to provide Rhode Islanders expanded coverage for experimental uses of prescription drugs.

The bill's importance is one he knows all too well, since he is currently recuperating from a bout with leukemia thanks to an experimental new use of a drug.

Walaska (D- Dist. 30, Warwick) is currently recovering from his second battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a rare blood and bone marrow disease that is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Efforts to fight the cancer with chemotherapy last fall were ineffective, and as he continued to decline, doctors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute estimated he had about 90 days to live.

That's when doctors at Dana-Farber and the Miriam Hospital suggested he try the cancer drug Imbruvica, which is already approved by the FDA for some patients with his condition, but is still the subject of some studies. And the improvements began "almost overnight," he said. Since he began taking Imbruvica, Walaska said his cancer is shrinking, he feels better and he has gained back about 25 of the pounds he lost.

He was fortunate in that his insurance covers the several tablets of Imbruvica he takes each day. Rhode Island law requires insurers to cover "off-label" use for drugs to treat cancer, provided the drug is approved for another use by the FDA and there is peer-reviewed medical literature to back its use for the patient's condition.

Walaska's bill, which is currently before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, would extend that law so that it applies not only to cancer patients, but to those with other disabling or life-threatening chronic diseases.

"My own experience has shown me that experimental drugs can save a person's life. I'm extremely lucky that I was able to access the drug that turned my health around when chemotherapy couldn't," said Walaska. "While I appreciate that this opportunity is available to cancer patients like me, why shouldn't it be available to everyone who is suffering from other serious diseases? We shouldn't say some life-threatening diseases warrant this coverage but others don't."

He added that, since New England is home to many universities and medical facilities that conduct medical research, Rhode Islanders might be uniquely poised to benefit from the expanded coverage, since their doctors might be connected to ongoing research and be more aware of drugs uses that are still being reviewed.

Walaska said of all the bills he has introduced this year, this one might be the most important to him, because he can see why it could make a very important difference to some Rhode Islanders' lives.

"I would like to see this bill enacted this year, because no one should be denied the drug that doctors think will save his or her life as it saved mine," he said.