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Former governor and lawmaker ask legislature to revisit “right‑to‑try” access to investigational drugs
Summary
John Kitzhaber and Representative Ben Bowman urged lawmakers to revisit a “right‑to‑try” pathway allowing terminal patients broader access to investigational drugs outside clinical trials.
John Kitzhaber, former Oregon governor and emergency physician, and state Representative Ben Bowman urged the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care to advance House Bill 3799 for study and further work in 2026. The measure aims to reinstate and broaden an earlier Oregon “right‑to‑try” pathway that allowed terminally ill patients to seek investigational drugs outside clinical trials.
Kitzhaber told the committee Oregon previously enacted a right‑to‑try law in 2015 but that the statutory definition of an investigational drug was narrow and the statute was later sunsetted in 2022. He and Bowman said federal right‑to‑try law passed in 2017 mirrors the narrow language and that HB 3799 would create an alternative pathway to expand options for patients with terminal diagnoses.
“An Oregonian with a terminal diagnosis today … is allowed to end their own life under Oregon’s Death with Dignity law, but they are not able to access experimental treatment that could save their lives,” Bowman said. Both speakers acknowledged legal and federal preemption risks — Kitzhaber said a challenge could be likely under the Constitution’s supremacy clause — but urged legislators to continue conversations with federal officials and the Food and Drug Administration before moving forward.
The committee closed the public hearing on HB 3799 and received a request from the sponsors to carry the topic forward for further intergovernmental discussion. No formal action or vote occurred.
