He Flew to China for His Mom's Cancer Drug. Now It's Sold Here

Debbie Doppelt, a 60-year-old jeweler, found out she had lung cancer in late 2023 after a cough that would not go away. It was an unusual kind that mostly affects people who have never smoked. Chemotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery held it back for months. Then, in December 2024, scans found 10 tiny tumors in her brain.

Her son Max went looking for the next option. The pill that seemed to fit her cancer best, sunvozertinib, was already approved in China. So Max flew to Shanghai and came home with 26 boxes of it in his luggage. He said the pills cost about $10,000. Arthur Allen told the family's story for KFF Health News on October 20, 2026, and it also ran in The Washington Post.

An Instagram post from @pubity has since retold that story.

View the original post

This is a family doing everything it could for someone it loves. We are not here to judge that. We wanted to check the post, explain the drug, and share what other families in the same spot can ask about.

A door that closed, and one that opened overseas

KFF reports that Debbie's doctors had other ideas, but each had a catch. One approved drug, amivantamab, worried Max because of its side effects, and her doctors doubted it would reach her brain well. In January 2025, she was turned down for a clinical trial of another drug, zipalertinib, at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The reason was a small amount of scarring on her lungs.

Sunvozertinib was being tested in the US at the time. But in that late-stage trial, half the people got chemotherapy alone. Her cancer had already grown through chemotherapy, so that was not a chance she wanted to take.

A doctor mentioned, almost in passing, that the drug could be bought in China. A relative got a small first supply through a contact there. Max's trip to Shanghai was to get more.

About 19 months after Debbie started the drug, KFF reports, her cancer was still mostly under control, with help from a few rounds of radiation and changes to her dose. Max told KFF he does not expect the drug to work forever. He also said a patient he helped got six months of the drug from China and found after three months that it was not working.

What makes this drug different

Many lung cancers are driven by changes in a gene called EGFR. The gene carries instructions for a protein that tells cells when to grow. When the gene is changed, the "grow" signal can get stuck on.

There are several kinds of EGFR changes. The common ones respond well to well-known EGFR pills. An exon 20 insertion is different. It is a small extra piece of code in one part of the gene, and it changes the protein's shape, so the usual pills often do not work. AstraZeneca says these insertions make up about 10% of EGFR-changed lung cancers.

Sunvozertinib is a pill made for this one kind of change. That is why it is not a general lung cancer drug. The only way to know if a cancer has an exon 20 insertion is a lab test on the tumor, called biomarker testing. FDA's approval says the change must be found with an FDA-approved test.

What the study showed

FDA approved sunvozertinib, sold as Zegfrovy, on July 2, 2025. It is for adults whose non-small cell lung cancer has an EGFR exon 20 insertion, has spread or cannot be removed with surgery, and has grown during or after platinum-based chemotherapy.

The approval rests on a study called WU-KONG1B. According to the drug label, 85 people took the approved dose of 200 mg once a day with food. All of them had already had platinum chemotherapy, and about 1 in 4 had cancer in the brain.

• In 46% of them, tumors shrank by a set amount. In 6%, scans no longer showed the tumors.
• For the people whose tumors shrank, the shrinkage lasted a median of 11.1 months. That means half had it last longer and half shorter.
• In 72% of those people, it lasted at least six months.

This was an accelerated approval. FDA uses that path to let a drug reach people sooner, based on early signs like tumor shrinkage. The label says the drug's continued approval may depend on a confirmatory trial showing that it truly helps patients.

Debbie's long response is real and hopeful. It is also one person's story. In the study, the drug shrank tumors in fewer than half of the people who took it.

From Shanghai to a US pharmacy

The drug is made for Dizal, a company based in Shanghai. On September 1, 2026, AstraZeneca said it had completed a deal giving it worldwide rights to develop and sell the drug. When KFF published its story, an AstraZeneca spokesperson said the drug would be available in the US by the start of 2027.

It came sooner. On October 22, 2026, AstraZeneca announced that Zegfrovy is now available in the US. It is sold through a network of specialty pharmacies, and some health systems can also get it through their own specialty pharmacies. The US label lists Dizal as the maker and AstraZeneca as the distributor.

For anyone whose cancer fits the approval, this means a US doctor can now prescribe it, and there is no need to travel for it.

Why buying cancer drugs abroad is a gamble

Max told KFF that if the next drug his mother needs is in China, he will go there. Many families would feel the same. Still, it helps to know the rules and the risks.

FDA says: "In most circumstances, it is illegal for individuals to import drugs or devices into the U.S. for personal use." A drug approved in another country but not in the US counts as an unapproved new drug, and FDA says it is illegal to import. FDA sometimes chooses not to act when a person has a serious condition and effective treatment "may not be available domestically." Even then, it generally looks for no more than a three-month supply and the name of the US doctor in charge of treatment. That is FDA's choice, not a right.

The bigger worry is safety. FDA says it cannot make sure medicine bought from foreign sources is safe and works. An HHS spokesperson told KFF that FDA "cautions patients about potential safety and quality risks" with treatments outside its system. Pills from abroad may be stored differently or come without US safety information. And whatever you take, your cancer team needs to know, so they can watch for side effects and drug interactions.

Safer roads to try first

• Ask for full biomarker testing. The National Cancer Institute says some targeted drugs "may only work for people whose cancers have certain biomarkers." A test can point to a drug that fits, or rule out one that will not help. See biomarker testing and precision medicine and what an EGFR mutation means, which covers the other drugs approved for exon 20 insertions.
• Look at more than one trial. Each trial has its own rules about who can join. Being turned down by one does not mean you will be turned down by all. See finding a clinical trial.
• Ask about expanded access. FDA says expanded access, also called "compassionate use," can let someone with a serious or life-threatening illness get a drug still being tested, outside a trial, when there is no good alternative and a trial is not possible. Your doctor makes the request, and the company has to agree to provide the drug. FDA runs a help line for cancer doctors called Project Facilitate (240-402-0004). See expanded access and compassionate use.
• Get a second opinion at a center that treats many people with your type of lung cancer. See how to get a second opinion.

For a wider look at treatment, see EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.

Side effects to know about

The most common side effects in the label include diarrhea, rash, less appetite, mouth sores, tiredness, nausea, vomiting and infections around the nails.

The Zegfrovy patient information says to tell your healthcare provider right away if you have:

• New or worse signs of lung problems, such as shortness of breath, trouble breathing, cough or fever. These lung problems can be severe and life-threatening.
• Diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.
• Any skin reactions, such as acne-like bumps or itchy skin.
• New or worse eye problems, such as eye pain, redness, sensitivity to light, dry eyes, blurred vision or vision loss. Do not wear contact lenses until a healthcare provider checks your eyes.

The drug can harm an unborn baby. The label says to use birth control that is not hormonal during treatment and for 2 weeks after the last dose. For an emergency, call 911.

Our verdict on the post

Accurate. The post's details match KFF's reporting: the brain tumors in late 2024, the trial she could not join, Max's flight to Shanghai, the 26 boxes and about $10,000, and about 19 months of control. FDA did approve the drug in July 2025, and AstraZeneca did announce US availability on October 22, 2026.

One small difference: the post makes it sound like Max's trip was how she first got the drug. KFF says a relative got the first supply, and Max went to Shanghai for a refill.

Sources

• Instagram post (@pubity): instagram.com
• Arthur Allen, "As Politicians Argue About China, US Patients Find Cutting-Edge Treatment There," KFF Health News, October 20, 2026: kffhealthnews.org
• FDA, "FDA grants accelerated approval to sunvozertinib for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertions," July 2, 2025: fda.gov
• DailyMed, ZEGFROVY (sunvozertinib) tablets label and patient information, posted October 23, 2026: dailymed.nlm.nih.gov
• AstraZeneca, "ZEGFROVY (sunvozertinib) now available in the US for patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations," October 22, 2026: astrazeneca-us.com
• AstraZeneca, "AstraZeneca completes global license agreement for oral EGFR inhibitor Zegfrovy for lung cancer," September 1, 2026: astrazeneca.com
• FDA, "Personal Importation" (updated August 18, 2025): fda.gov
• FDA, "Expanded Access": fda.gov
• FDA, "Expanded Access: Information for Physicians": fda.gov
• National Cancer Institute, "Biomarker Testing for Cancer Treatment": cancer.gov

How this article was prepared

An AI-assisted editorial system prepared this story on November 9, 2026, from the sources listed above. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed. Cancer Explained is published by the National Cancer Information Foundation; it is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

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