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Senate committee backs bill allowing third‑party payment of participant costs for clinical trials
Summary
House Bill 1065 would permit organizations to establish programs that pay reasonable trial-related costs for participants and accompanying caregivers. Sponsor and industry representatives said the change aims to increase clinical-trial enrollment and diversity by reducing financial barriers; the committee voted 11–0 to advance the bill.
House Bill 1065 would allow an organization — including a patient group, nonprofit or company — to establish a program that pays reasonable costs incurred by a clinical-trial participant, and in some cases by a participant's relative or friend who attends to provide support, sponsor Representative Shackleford told the Senate Public Health Committee.
The sponsor said financial barriers such as travel, lodging, meals, childcare and lost income deter many eligible participants from enrolling in clinical trials and that increasing enrollment diversity improves trial validity. "Estimates suggest that less than 7 percent of eligible participants participate," the sponsor said, citing broader research on trial enrollment barriers.
Chris Bandy of Taft Law, representing Sanofi and Eli Lilly, told the committee similar laws exist in Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts and Texas and that the language is modeled on those precedents. He said the measure encourages biopharma and nonprofit sponsors to reduce participants' out-of-pocket costs and helps recruit patients who otherwise could not travel to trial sites.
Senators voted 11–0 to report HB1065 favorably.
