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Committee advances bill expanding Utah’s Right‑to‑Try law beyond terminal diagnoses
Summary
Senators voted 3‑1 to favorably recommend SB 222, which would broaden Utah’s Right to Try statute to allow patients with an “eligible illness” (not only terminal patients) to access investigational treatments that have completed phase 1 trials; sponsors and industry argued it will aid local innovation while lawmakers pressed for safeguards on informed consent and IRB protections.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted to favorably recommend SB 222, a proposal to amend the Utah Right to Try Act by replacing the current terminal‑illness requirement with a broader "eligible illness" standard and expanding allowable dosage formulations for investigational treatments.
Sponsor Senator Wilson told the committee the change would align Utah with other states and make investigational treatments available to patients earlier in disease courses. John Dahlstrom, executive vice president and general counsel for the Wasatch Group, described local manufacturing efforts and said expanding the law would enable more clinical opportunities and attract companies; he highlighted NUSANO Inc. and a planned Medical Innovation Technology Center in West Valley City.
Committee members expressed concerns about patient protections. Senator Plumb asked whether existing statutes require institutional review board (IRB) oversight and other procedural safeguards; Dahlstrom and the sponsor said the current Utah statute requires informed consent and positions the attending physician as the gatekeeper, and that the bill retains the statute's limitation to drugs that have completed phase 1 trials.
The Utah Medical Association signaled continuing drafting concerns, saying the bill as written was "too broad" and that language requiring patients to exhaust conventional therapies had been removed; the association said it would work with the sponsor on revisions. Industry groups including Bio Utah supported the change as moderate and helpful for attracting companies.
After discussion the committee approved the bill on a recorded voice statement of 3‑1 and moved SB 222 to the Senate for further consideration.
