’Right to try’ bill draws backing from patients, biotech advocates and legal debate over civil liability

Summary

Supporters said House Bill 701 would make New Hampshire a national leader in compassionate access to experimental treatments for terminally ill patients, adding civil‑liability waivers, remote prescreening and an injunctive‑relief path for providers. Opponents warned the reforms could undercut patient protections and conflict with federal rules.

CONCORD, N.H. — House Bill 701, a proposal to expand so‑called “right to try” access for terminally ill patients, drew a crowded hearing Tuesday in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Sponsor Representative Lisa Mazur described the bill as an effort to make New Hampshire “the best jurisdiction in the country for clinical trials and right to try for people with life‑threatening illnesses,” citing proximity to Boston’s biotech hub and a hope that the state could both save lives and attract clinical innovation.

Mazur said the bill would add three features not widely available in other states: clearer limitations on civil liability where a terminally ill patient consents, legal authority for a prescreening evaluation to be done remotely when the patient is dying, and a direct route to injunctive relief so providers need not wait for an enforcement action before asking a court to protect a patient’s access to treatment. “This will make New Hampshire…

’Right to try’ bill draws backing from patients, biotech advocates and legal debate over civil liability

Summary

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