2014 Senate Bill 991 ↩

House Roll Call 515: Passed

To establish that a person diagnosed with a terminal illness has a “right to try” experimental drugs or therapies, notwithstanding laws that prohibit treatments not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, subject to various conditions specified in the bill. The bill would prohibit state employees or officials from interfering, and ban licensing boards from sanctioning health care providers who participate, subject to specified conditions. Insurers would not have to cover these treatments, and drug makers who comply with the specified conditions would be immune from liability if the patient is harmed. The bill was introduced in response to criticism of FDA mandates that drug makers prove new drugs are “safe and effective” are improperly applied in these cases, leading to many preventable deaths. House Bill 5651 proposes the same thing..