Abigail Burroughs was a college student diagnosed with head and neck cancer. During the later phases of her treatment, Abigail's father, Frank Burroughs, formed an organization, the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs and sued the FDA for access to Erbitux. At that time, Erbitux was available experimentally only for patients participating in colon cancer clinical trials. The argument made by the Abigail Alliance in court was that terminal cancer patients have a constitutionally protected right to access to experimental medications before the FDA approves them. Specifically, the Abigail Alliance argued that the FDA should license drugs for use by terminally ill patients with "desperate diagnoses," after they have completed Phase I testing. If successful, the suit would have eliminated FDA prohibitions on selling unapproved drugs, and left the decision entirely in the hands of drug manufacturers.