Hawon Jung

Update: AstraZeneca announced this morning that sunvozertinib is now available in the United States. A major win for the lung cancer community, especially patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion lung cancer who have been waiting for this option. China approved it in August 2023. The FDA approved it in July 2025. It became commercially available here today. More than three years from its first approval to US availability. I did not expect this many people to read about my mom. Thank you. If you or someone you love is going through this and doesn’t know where to turn, my messages are open. astrazeneca-us.com/content/a…

In January 2025 my mom’s lung cancer spread to her brain. The drug with the best chance of helping her was approved in China but not here. A doctor told me, almost as an aside, that if she were Chinese she could buy it at a pharmacy. So I flew to Shanghai and came home with 26 boxes in my luggage. That was 19 months ago. My mom is still here, still working, and in her words has had an amazing three years. The drug was approved in China in 2023. The FDA approved it in July 2025. It still is not for sale here. I know of at least 30 Americans who have made the same trip. I have been scared to tell this story because I worried it could cost my mom access to the medicine keeping her alive. But the problem matters more than my silence. These drugs need to be developed and available here, and that means FDA reform. Art Allen at KFF Health News told our story this week. It also ran in The Washington Post. kffhealthnews.org/health-ind…