New Laws Draw Biomedical Innovators to Montana’s Expanding Treatment Hub
Biotech and biohacking firms are eyeing Montana as the next frontier for experimental medical treatments, aiming to turn the state into a hub for therapies that have not received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. According to The Wall Street Journal, companies hope to leverage newly enacted state laws to offer FDA-unapproved experimental drugs and treatments, potentially positioning Montana as a magnet for medical tourists and creating significant opportunities for commercial real estate developers, investors, and property owners.
The shift is enabled by a unique convergence of state and federal measures. At the federal level, the Right to Try law grants patients with life-threatening diseases the ability to access drugs and therapies that have cleared only the earliest stages of FDA review, provided they have exhausted other approved options. Unlike traditional pathways, these Right to Try requests are not subject to FDA review and the agency does not evaluate them for safety or effectiveness, leaving patients and their physicians to weigh the risks independently.
Montana has gone further than most states. In 2023, lawmakers amended existing Right to Try legislation, removing the requirement that patients be terminally ill and shifting the focus from simply extending life to improving a patient's quality and length of life. Then, in May 2025, Montana became the first state to license and oversee experimental treatment centers through new legislation, granting clinics the authority to administer experimental drugs that have completed only Phase I trials—trials designed mainly to assess basic safety, not efficacy.
This legislative environment has quickly attracted interest from biotech firms, biohacking startups, and medical clinic operators. The CEO of A4LI, the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, told the Journal that around 20 companies are considering setting up operations under the new framework. Chris Bradley, CEO of longevity biotech Matter Bio, believes this environment provides a vital testing ground for new medicines, stating that increased patient access could better reveal whether a treatment works.
Major companies are already making plans: CSBio, for instance, intends to establish both manufacturing and treatment facilities in Montana. This development signals broad implications for the state’s commercial real estate sector, spanning medical office buildings, laboratories, manufacturing, warehousing, and new types of clinical treatment centers.
However, experts caution that regulatory and oversight details are still evolving. The newly established licensing system requires robust reporting, safety, and quality assurance measures, and not all questions about provider liability and patient protections have been resolved. While the infrastructure for experimental clinics is being put in place now, industry participants don't expect the business environment to fully open until at least next year.
Financial investment trends add another dimension of uncertainty. While hopes are high for a biotech boom in Montana, venture capital has become more selective amid a national slowdown in biotech startup investment. The Wall Street Journal notes that a lack of IPOs and challenging market conditions have curbed the flow of capital to new ventures. This funding gap could limit the near-term expansion of experimental clinics and the broader ecosystem they are expected to stimulate.
Still, Montana’s bid to become a destination for experimental medicine marks a profound shift in the nation’s regulatory landscape. As the first state to allow licensed clinics to routinely offer drugs that have not passed full regulatory scrutiny, Montana’s role is being closely watched by both advocates and critics—and by investors hoping the gamble will pay off.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM