This week, the House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee unanimously voted to pass strong legislation that promises to make New Hampshire the leading state for clinical trials and biotechnology innovation. HB 701 is a right-to-try expansion bill that aims to help the least of these, those diagnosed with a terminal disease, access potentially life-saving experimental treatment.
10 Republican legislators fought to advance this legislation as amended by sponsor Lisa Mazur, defeating a Democrat amendment that would have gutted the bill’s cutting-edge liability provisions.
Rep. Wayne MacDonald – Rockingham – District 16
Rep. Lisa Mazur – Hillsborough – District 44
Rep. Matt Drew – Hillsborough – District 19
Rep. Erica Layon – Rockingham – District 13
Rep. Susan DeLemus – Strafford – District 1
Rep. Jim Kofalt – Hillsborough – District 32
Rep. Yury Polozov – Merrimack – District 10
Rep. Jay Markell – Rockingham – District 18
Rep. Linda McGrath – Rockingham – District 40
Rep. Steven Kesselring – Hillsborough – District 18
Rather than shutting doors to possible cures, these 10 legislators stood with patients in their fight for a chance at life. Cornerstone applauds their exemplary efforts and encourages Granite Staters to reach out and thank them.
We also recognize and appreciate the Democratic legislators who supported the final OTPA motion. You can find their contact information here.
Prior to the vote, the committee received compelling testimony from individuals currently undergoing experimental treatment; parents desperately working to save their children’s lives; and leading right-to-try advocate, Dr. Bess Stillman. Her husband, Jake, responded well to treatment in a clinical trial, but passed away after the trial ended and he was unable to access the potentially life-saving treatment due to flawed right-to-try laws.
Current right-to-try laws, including New Hampshire’s existing statute, face great difficulty in actually making an impact for dying patients, due to the threat of civil liability. The risk of civil liability often trumps the patient’s risk of dying and prevents physicians from administering the experimental treatments that right-to-try laws are designed to make accessible.
HB 701 addresses this issue with the unique ability to waive standard civil liability, ensuring patients can effectively utilize the right-to-try law and benefit from potentially life-saving treatment.
In addition to removing barriers to patient care, HB 701 could make New Hampshire the largest biotech leader in the U.S., delivering healthcare innovations that make a world of difference in the lives of patients and families.
Next door to the Boston-metropolitan area, the largest single biotechnology hub in the world, New Hampshire is uniquely positioned to draw innovation and cutting-edge clinical trials into our state. By proposing stronger legal safeguards than Massachusetts, HB 701 would establish the Granite State as a groundbreaking destination for patients and providers pursuing experimental treatments.
HB 701 will now go before the full House; we urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to support this vital legislation.
