Establishes "New Jersey Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act."
This bill establishes the “New Jersey Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act,” creating a pathway for certain patients with life-threatening or severely debilitating illnesses to seek highly personalized investigational treatments. The bill is aimed at therapies that are unique to an individual patient and produced exclusively for that patient based on genetic profile, including individualized gene therapies, antisense oligonucleotides, and neoantigen vaccines.
Under the bill, a patient may request such treatment from an eligible facility or a manufacturer operating within that facility if the patient has exhausted FDA-approved options, has a recommendation from a New Jersey-licensed physician, and gives informed written consent. The consent form must explain approved alternatives, risks, likely outcomes, possible worsening of symptoms or hastened death, insurance and hospice implications, and the patient’s responsibility for costs. The bill also allows facilities or manufacturers to provide the treatment without compensation and to require the patient to pay manufacturing-related costs.
The bill would supplement Title 26 of the Revised Statutes by creating a new state framework for access to individualized investigational drugs, biological products, and devices. It would also limit liability for health care facilities and providers acting consistently with the act, except in cases of gross negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct, and it would prohibit state or local officials from blocking treatment by making such interference a disorderly persons offense. In addition, the bill clarifies that insurers and government medical assistance programs may, but are not required to, cover the cost of these treatments, and it protects heirs from liability for unpaid treatment debt if the patient dies as a result of the treatment.
Based on the bill text, the measure appears strongly supportive of patient access and medical innovation, especially for patients facing terminal or severe illness with few remaining options. The framing emphasizes autonomy, informed consent, and expanded treatment access, while also attempting to reduce legal barriers for providers and manufacturers willing to offer these therapies. No committee transcript or vote record is available, so there is no recorded legislative debate or voting sentiment to assess beyond the bill’s pro-access structure.
The main points of contention likely involve patient safety, regulatory oversight, cost, and liability. Critics could question whether individualized investigational treatments should be made available outside traditional approval pathways, especially given the bill’s allowance for treatment with limited compensation rules and broad immunity for providers absent gross negligence or willful misconduct. Another likely concern is the provision making state or local interference a disorderly persons offense, which could be viewed as unusually aggressive. Supporters, by contrast, would likely focus on compassionate access for patients with life-threatening conditions, physician oversight, and informed consent protections.