Help Cancer Patients Access Medications!

Our project has been helping Muazzam with lifesaving medications since 2017. We first learned about her story from her sister who has been her biggest supporter and advocate. 

Muazzam was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2014, when she was just 27.  Most of Hodgkin's lymphoma patients get cured with standard chemotherapy, but a minority struggle to overcome their cancer for years. Muazzam was one of the unlucky ones.

At first she was treated locally, in her native Tajikistan.  Unfortunately, she was not able to complete her standard treatment protocol due to financial difficulties and severe side effects of chemotherapy.  Then two years later she was diagnosed with disease relapse when she traveled for an examination to Russia.  Muazzam started treatment right away, but then had to return home for radiation therapy since it was too expensive to pay for out of pocket. 

Yet the treatment at home could not be finished once again because the local doctors decided against radiation.  At that point Muazzam traveled to St. Petersburg to get a second opinion.  There she was recommended a new drug, nivolumab, that was shown to be highly effective for patients like her.  She finally achieved remission in 2018 and continued to stay on the medication to keep her disease under control.  From time to time, she travels to St. Peterburg for follow up and to refill her prescriptions.  Nivolumab is still unavailable in Tajikistan, like many other modern cancer drugs. 

Our project is most valuable for patients like Muazzam, for whom lifesaving medications are available, but only if they are aware that they exist and are able to access them.  Our mission is to bridge the gaps in access to medications for the patients in the former Soviet Union.  With your support, we can continue to help patients like Muazzam.  Thank you!  

Etoposide is one the essential cancer drugs, a chemotherapy medication used for the treatments of a number of types of cancer including lung cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, neuroblastoma, and ovarian cancer. In use since 1980s, it had disappeared from Russian hospitals in the recent years.  New regulations effectively blocked foreign suppliers from importing medications if there are domestic manufacturers.  In reality, however, Russian pharma companies have been unable to meet demand for this and other drugs, creating a severe shortage of critically important drugs in the hospitals. 

As a result, cancer patients have been left on their own and forced to find and purchase their own medications.  Parents of children with cancer have been chasing medications all over the country or buying them off the black market. 

We are working with Advita fund in St. Peterburg to help them provide these critically important medications for their patients.  Recently, we have received a request for Eto-Gry (etoposide) for two of the young patients they support. We will be able to cover the bill from a European pharmacy for 5,000 euros thanks to your support and generosity. 

We appreciate your care for severely ill patients who are facing not just the struggle for their health but also disruptive actions of their government.  We will do everything in our power to suppor them and we know that with your help we can make a difference for many patients.

Thanks again!