Committee of Conference backs amendment to HB 701-FN, adds 'John Lewicki and Michael Yakubovich Right to Try Act' title

The Committee of Conference on HB 701-FN voted to approve Amendment 2811h and to add the title "John Lewicki and Michael Yakubovich Right to Try Act," the committee chair said during a reconvened session. The committee agreed the amendment reflects the changes discussed in prior meetings and that the report will be sent to OLS for finalization and sign-off before the filing deadline.

The amendment clarifies several definitions and adds an explicit non‑obligation clause. Under the amendment, "health care provider" is defined to mean a physician licensed to practice medicine in New Hampshire, committee members said. The committee adopted the definition of "terminal illness" drawn from federal regulations — described in the discussion as the definition in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 312.81 — which frames terminal illness in terms of a high likelihood of death unless the course of disease is interrupted and ties the definition to clinical trial survival end points.

The amendment also narrows where an individualized investigational treatment may be provided: the bill now states that an investigational drug, biologic, or device must be administered by a health care provider at an "eligible facility," which the committee defined in the amendment as a licensed New Hampshire institution. Members said this language was changed from a prior phrasing that had required an investigational treatment to be provided "in cooperation with" an eligible facility.

A final, substantial addition inserted near the end of the amendment reads, in the committee's words, that "nothing in this chapter shall require a health care provider, health care facility, or the manufacturer of an investigational drug, investigational biologic product, or device to make an experimental treatment available to an eligible patient." That sentence was identified by a staff speaker when summarizing the amendment changes.

Committee members took a brief caucus to secure a third House conferee before voting. After the reconvening, members on both the House and Senate sides voiced their support and the committee approved the amendment by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. The committee chair said the amended report will be delivered to OLS and a final report will be ready for sign-off before the deadline. The item will be placed on the House consent calendar, a committee member said.

The discussion at the Committee of Conference was procedural and focused on wording and the specific definitions listed above; no final enactment of the bill occurred in this session. The committee’s next steps, as stated during the meeting, are to file the committee report with OLS and make the item available for the House consent process.