SB72: SB72 "Hope for Georgia Patients Act"; enact

Georgia already has a "Right to Try" law letting terminally ill patients access certain investigational drugs. This bill builds a new article onto that law aimed specifically at individualized investigational treatments, meaning drugs, biological products, or devices made just for one patient based on their own genetic makeup, such as personalized gene therapy or cancer vaccines. The bill lays out who qualifies (patients with a life-threatening or severely debilitating illness who have tried FDA-approved options and gotten a physician recommendation), what informed consent must cover, and how manufacturers or specialized research facilities may provide these treatments, with or without charging the patient. It says insurers and hospitals are not required to cover or provide these treatments, protects physicians from having their medical license punished for recommending them, and limits lawsuits against manufacturers, facilities, and physicians who act in good faith. It also relieves a deceased patient's estate of leftover treatment debt in certain cases. The existing right-to-try statute is reorganized into Article 1, with this new material becoming Article 2.

• Reorganizes Georgia's existing "Right to Try Act" (O.C.G.A. Chapter 52 of Title 31) into Article 1 and adds a new Article 2 for individualized investigational treatments.
• Defines eligibility for patients with a life-threatening or severely debilitating illness who have tried FDA-approved treatments and received a physician's recommendation for a genetically based treatment.
• Sets minimum requirements for written informed consent, including disclosure of risks, lack of guaranteed insurance coverage, and effects on hospice eligibility.
• Allows manufacturers or eligible research facilities to provide these treatments to patients for free or for a fee, but does not require them to do so.
• Bars the Georgia Composite Medical Board from punishing a physician's license solely for recommending or prescribing such a treatment, and bars the Department of Community Health from acting against a provider's Medicare certification on that basis.
• Limits lawsuits against manufacturers, facilities, and physicians who act in good faith, and relieves a deceased patient's estate of remaining treatment debt in certain circumstances.

Patients with life-threatening or severely debilitating illnesses, their physicians, drug and biological product manufacturers, specialized research facilities, hospitals and other healthcare providers, health insurers and third-party administrators, the Georgia Composite Medical Board, and the Department of Community Health.

Patients who have exhausted FDA-approved treatments could pursue personalized, genetically tailored experimental therapies without their doctor risking license discipline, but insurers and hospitals would not be required to pay for or support these treatments, so patients could bear significant costs themselves.

• Section 1 names the bill the "Hope for Georgia Patients Act."
• Section 2 and 3 reorganize the current right-to-try statute (O.C.G.A. §§ 31-52-1 through 31-52-10) into "Article 1" and update internal wording from "chapter" to "article."
• Section 4 revises definitions in O.C.G.A. § 31-52-3, including updated healthcare directive references.
• Section 5 adds new Article 2 (O.C.G.A. §§ 31-52-20 through 31-52-27), defining individualized investigational treatment, eligibility, informed consent requirements, manufacturer and facility roles, insurance non-mandates, physician license protections, anti-blocking of patient access, and liability limits.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-52-25 protects physicians from Medical Board sanctions and healthcare providers from Medicare certification action for recommending these treatments.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-52-27 limits private lawsuits against manufacturers, facilities, and physicians acting in good faith, and excuses a deceased patient's estate from remaining treatment debt, except for nonexperimental care costs.
• Section 6 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-05-12Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-12Act 122
3. 2025-05-12Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-07Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-03-27House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-03-27House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-02-27House Second Readers (House)

• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)Primary sponsor
• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Colton Moore (R, SD-053)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)

1. PassedSenate voteFebruary 24, 2025

   56 yea, 0 nay

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #86

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 27, 2025

   161 yea, 0 nay (16 not voting, 3 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #318

• right to try
• medical treatment access
• gene therapy
• patient rights
• health insurance coverage