Help Cancer Patients Access Medications!

In January we transferred over $6,000 to buy Opdivo in Germany for blood cancer patients in St. Petersburg.  Opdivo is called a “miracle drug” sometimes:  it is currently indicated to treat eight kinds of cancer – as different as lung cancer, melanoma or Hodgkin lymphoma.  It works by harnessing the immune system to fight cancer.  Discovered by accident, when scientists were looking for a drug to tamp down the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease, not stimulate it, it took years to get to clinical trials.  The studies, however, showed striking results immediately.   Among advanced melanoma patients, never before seen responses astonished oncologists.  From there it took off - many more indications were added to Opdivo, and other similar drugs. 

Hodgkin lymphoma patients like those treated in St. Petersburg also benefitted from immunotherapy.  Patients who failed multiple chemotherapy lines, suddenly had a new option that could bring in remission that lasted.  However, high efficacy came with a high price tag attached.  In Russia, Opdivo is not covered by the federal healthcare system, which means patients have to pay for it out of their own pockets.  Retail pharmacies also add significant premium to a drug that is already very expensive.  For this reason, we buy medications from Germany at a much lower price. 

Thank you for helping us make modern medications accessible to cancer patients in Russia!  We appreciate your support and will make sure to share more stories of how you are making impact this year!