A. A taxpayer who files an individual New Mexico income tax return, who is not a dependent of another taxpayer, who is an oncologist who is a physician licensed pursuant to the Medical Practice Act [Chapter 61, Article 6 NMSA 1978] and whose practice is located in rural New Mexico may claim, and the department may allow, a tax credit of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each patient participating in a cancer clinical trial under the taxpayer's supervision for a maximum credit allowed for all cancer clinical trials conducted by that taxpayer during the taxable year of four thousand dollars ($4,000). The tax credit provided in this section may be referred to as the "cancer clinical trial tax credit".

B. The purpose of the cancer clinical trial tax credit is to encourage physicians in New Mexico to participate as clinical trial investigators by performing cancer clinical trials of new cancer treatments in New Mexico and making cancer clinical trials more readily available to cancer patients in the state.

C. The cancer clinical trial tax credit may only be claimed for the taxable year in which the physician participates as an investigator in a clinical trial.

D. A partnership or business association in which one or more members qualifies for a cancer clinical trial tax credit may claim only one cancer clinical trial tax credit. The total cancer clinical trial tax credit allowed by the department for all the members of a partnership or business association shall not exceed the amount of cancer clinical trial tax credit that could have been claimed by one physician conducting, supervising or participating in the cancer clinical trial for which the credit is allowed.

E. A husband and wife who file separate returns for a taxable year in which they could have filed a joint return may each claim only one-half of the cancer clinical trial tax credit that would have been allowed on a joint return.

F. The department shall compile an annual report that includes the number of taxpayers approved by the department to receive a cancer clinical trial tax credit in the taxable year, the amount of cancer clinical trial tax credits allowed in the taxable year, the number of patients who participated in the taxable year in cancer clinical trials and the locations of the cancer clinical trials for which cancer clinical trial tax credits were claimed.

G. As used in this section:

(1) "cancer clinical trial" means a clinical trial:

(a) conducted for the purposes of the prevention of or the prevention of reoccurrence of cancer or the early detection or treatment of cancer for which no equally or more effective standard cancer treatment exists;

(b) that is not designed exclusively to test toxicity or disease pathophysiology and has a therapeutic intent;

(c) provided in this state as part of a scientific study of a new therapy or intervention and is for the prevention, prevention of reoccurrence, early detection, treatment or palliation of cancer in humans and in which the scientific study includes all of the following: 1) specific goals; 2) a rationale and background for the study; 3) criteria for patient selection; 4) specific direction for administering the therapy or intervention and for monitoring patients; 5) a definition of quantitative measures for determining treatment response; 6) methods for documenting and treating adverse reactions; and 7) a reasonable expectation that the treatment will be at least as efficacious as standard cancer treatment;

(d) that is being conducted with approval of at least one of the following: 1) one of the federal national institutes of health; 2) a federal national institutes of health cooperative group or center; 3) the United States department of defense; 4) the federal food and drug administration in the form of an investigational new drug application; 5) the United States department of veterans affairs; or 6) a qualified research entity that meets the criteria established by the federal national institutes of health for grant eligibility;

(e) that is considered part of a cancer clinical trial;

(f) that has been reviewed and approved by an institutional review board that has an active federal-wide assurance of protection for human subjects; and

(g) in which the personnel conducting the clinical trial are working within their scope of practice, experience and training and are capable of providing the clinical trial because of their experience, training and volume of patients treated to maintain their expertise; and

(2) "rural New Mexico" means a class B county in which no municipality has a population of sixty thousand or more according to the most recent federal decennial census and includes the municipalities within that county.

History: Laws 2011, ch. 89, § 1.

Effective dates. — Laws 2011, ch. 89, § 3 made Laws 2011, ch. § 1 effective January 1, 2012.

Applicability. — Laws 2011, ch. 89, § 2 provided that the provisions of this act apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, but before January 1, 2015.