When the Food and Drug Administration approved the pancreatic cancer pill Rasonque on Aug. 26, the drugmaker's free early access program closed. For some patients who had not yet enrolled, insurance coverage was not ready to take its place.
Kelsey Solano, a critical care nurse in Washington state, was finishing paperwork to enroll her husband, Juan, in Revolution Medicines' expanded access program for daraxonrasib, the drug's generic name, when the approval came through. Juan has metastatic pancreatic cancer. "He was considered an urgent request because his clinical status was really starting to change," she told STAT, which reported the family's experience on Sept. 8.
