US lung cancer patient travels to Shanghai to buy sunvozertinib; condition largely controlled after about 19 months of treatment

**A U.S. patient with advanced lung cancer, whose options in the U.S. were limited by trial restrictions and an unapproved drug, had her son travel to Shanghai to bring back China-developed sunvozertinib; after about 19 months on the drug, her disease is largely controlled, showing that Chinese innovative drugs are becoming a cross-border treatment-seeking option for some U.S. patients.**

**Key points**

**1. U.S. treatment options and trial enrollment were limited**

Debbie was diagnosed with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutation lung cancer with brain metastases; amivantamab raised concerns about brain penetration and toxicity, and she was rejected from the zipalertinib trial because of pulmonary fibrosis scarring.

**2. Sunvozertinib became the target of treatment-seeking in China**

Sunvozertinib was approved in China in 2023, and the U.S. FDA only approved it in July 2025; at the time of the report it was still not on the market. Max flew to Shanghai and brought back 26 boxes, spending about $10,000.

**3. Buying the drug bought Debbie time but was not a cure**

After about 19 months on the drug, her cancer was largely controlled, and she was still running her jewelry business; Max estimated that the drug works for about half of patients, and another 70-year-old woman's cancer still spread after three months on it.

**4. News of cross-border treatment-seeking spread on its own, and China's R&D role is rising**

Max said no institution or doctor guided them, and at least 30 U.S. patients have traveled to China specifically to obtain sunvozertinib. In 2025, China accounted for 46% of global clinical testing of new drugs, and CAR-T is also drawing U.S. and European patients to China for trials.

**5. The treatment-seeking experience led to an AI trial-matching app**

Max founded an AI company that integrates research databases, pharmaceutical company information and medical records, and about 300 lung cancer patients use it for free. An executive at a U.S. biotechnology company said more Phase 1 trials are planned to move to Australia, Europe or China. 2026-10-24 19:15 U.S. edition of "Dying to Survive": A U.S. son's journey to buy medicine in Shanghai Wallstreetcn Quick Take

This article is from the WeChat public account: Wallstreetcn, author: Li Jia

Remember "Dying to Survive," starring Xu Zheng? In the film, Cheng Yong, who runs an Indian oil business, unexpectedly embarks on a path of buying generic leukemia drugs from India, helping many patients who cannot afford the genuine drug "stay alive."

In reality, a similar story is playing out in the opposite direction.

A 60-year-old woman living in Manhattan was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer, and the cancer cells had spread to her brain, forming 10 tiny tumors. A top New York cancer center could not offer her a treatment plan she was satisfied with, and clinical trials also shut her out.

At that moment, a doctor said one sentence to her son: "If only she were Chinese, she could buy it at a pharmacy in China."

So the 30-year-old American son booked a flight to Shanghai and ultimately brought back 26 boxes of anti-cancer drugs, spending about $10,000.

This is not a movie plot, but a real case recently disclosed by the U.S. health news outlet KFF Health News. What is more striking is that what they crossed the Pacific to find this time was not an Indian generic drug, but a China-developed innovative anti-cancer drug already approved in China—sunvozertinib.

The global map of drug development is changing. Back then, "Dying to Survive" told the story of Chinese patients rushing around to obtain medicine; now, some U.S. patients have also begun crossing borders to seek China-developed treatment options.

A Chinese anti-cancer drug became hope for a U.S. patient

The protagonist is Debbie Doppelt, a New York woman who runs a jewelry business. At the end of 2023, a persistent mild cough sent her to the hospital, where she was ultimately diagnosed with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutation non-small cell lung cancer.

This is a subtype of lung cancer driven by a specific mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, occurring mainly in non-small cell lung cancer patients and also seen in nonsmokers. Targeted therapy for this mutation has made progress, but different drugs differ in efficacy, safety and suitable populations.

After diagnosis, Debbie received chemotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery, and her condition was once controlled. But in December 2024, a follow-up scan brought bad news: the cancer had spread to the brain, forming 10 tiny tumors.

At this point, her problem was not that there was no drug to treat her, but that existing treatment options each had limitations.

The U.S. FDA approved amivantamab in 2024 for certain non-small cell lung cancer patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations. Debbie's son Max, after reviewing research materials, had concerns about the drug's toxicity; several doctors he consulted also warned that the drug's ability to enter brain tissue is limited, which may affect its efficacy against brain metastases.

Another drug targeting the same mutation, zipalertinib, was at the time being tested in a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Debbie tried to enroll, but learned in January 2025 that she had mild fibrotic scarring in her lungs and therefore did not meet the trial criteria.

The last option to come into the family's view was sunvozertinib.

This drug was developed by Shanghai-based Dizal Pharma and was approved in China in 2023 for the treatment of certain types of non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations. Compared with drugs targeting other EGFR mutations, patients with this type have historically faced relatively limited treatment options, so drugs developed for this mutation are of special significance.

Sunvozertinib was also being tested in clinical trials in the United States at the time, but the relevant trials Debbie could access included a chemotherapy control arm, meaning some participants could only receive chemotherapy. Given that her cancer had already become resistant to chemotherapy, the family found it hard to accept continuing to bet on chemo.

A drug already approved in China became one of the treatment opportunities American patients most wanted to pursue.

Her son flew to Shanghai and brought back 26 boxes of the drug

The turning point came from an offhand remark by a doctor: "If only she were Chinese, she could just go to a pharmacy and buy it."

Max Doppelt is a 30-year-old computer engineer. After hearing this, he immediately began contacting friends and relatives, hoping to find a channel through which he could obtain sunvozertinib in China.

Within hours, the family had obtained the first batch of the drug through a contact in China. A few months later, Max personally flew to Shanghai and brought back 26 boxes of sunvozertinib, at a cost of about $10,000.

"The moment I got on the plane and brought the medicine home, it felt like the most important thing I had ever done in my life," Max said in an interview with KFF Health News. He believed that relevant research had already shown sunvozertinib's potential to treat brain metastases, and that his mother's other options at the time might not have allowed her to survive another year.

The trip to Shanghai ultimately bought Debbie more time.

According to KFF Health News, about 19 months after she began taking sunvozertinib, her cancer was still largely under control. During that time, she received a small amount of radiation therapy and had her dosage adjusted according to her condition. Even with advanced cancer, she hardly missed a single day of work, continuing to run the diamond business she operated together with her husband.

"I think these three years have been quite wonderful," Debbie said. "In some ways, better than the three years before, because you feel grateful for everything."

Of course, sunvozertinib is not a universal cure that works for all patients. Max estimates that the drug is effective in about half of those who take it; he also helped a 70-year-old woman obtain the drug from China, but three months after she started taking it, her cancer was still spreading.

For Debbie, the drug did not offer a guarantee of a cure, but rather one more treatment path to try under the pressure of a disease that continued to progress.

More than one "American son" is turning his gaze toward China

According to Max, he knows of at least 30 American patients who have made special trips to China to obtain sunvozertinib.

"No organization or doctor is guiding patients to China, but word just gets around," he said.

Behind this cross-border drug-seeking phenomenon is a shift in the role of China's biotech industry.

In the past, China's image in the global pharmaceutical supply chain was to a large extent associated with active pharmaceutical ingredients and generic drugs. Today, Chinese companies have continued to invest in areas such as targeted drugs and cell therapy, more and more new drugs are being tested in clinical trials in China, and some drugs have begun to attract overseas patients.

According to data cited by KFF Health News, China accounted for 46% of global clinical testing of new drugs in 2025. China has become an important participant in global biotech R&D, with not only drugs used by domestic patients but also a growing number of innovative therapies developed for the international market.

In addition to sunvozertinib, CAR-T cell therapy is also attracting patients from the United States and Europe to China to participate in clinical trials.

CAR-T therapy works by extracting a patient's own T cells, genetically modifying them, and then infusing them back into the body so that they can more effectively recognize and attack cancer cells. Because it involves individualized cell manufacturing, the development, production and clinical application of this type of therapy are all highly complex. In recent years, China has conducted a large amount of research in the field of cell therapy, and some projects have also attracted overseas patients.

This means that China's appeal to global patients is extending from drug supply to innovative therapies and clinical trials.

Is the FDA too slow? US biotech companies are also relocating

Why do American patients encounter such difficulties in accessing medication? The answer is not just FDA approval speed, but also the pace of new drug development, clinical trial enrollment criteria, and differences in the timing of drug launches in different countries.

Sunvozertinib is a typical case: China approved the drug in 2023, while the US FDA only approved it for specific patients in July 2025. But as of the time of KFF Health News's report, the drug was still not officially on sale in the US market.

In other words, regulatory approval does not mean patients can immediately buy the drug. From approval to commercial launch, there may still be time gaps in manufacturing, supply and commercialization arrangements.

At the same time, where clinical trials are conducted is also changing.

Sam Rasty, founder of FynderBio, believes that China's performance in vaccine and drug R&D during the pandemic drove adjustments to its local biotech system. Since then, venture capital has increased investment in early-stage clinical research in China and Australia. The regulatory mechanisms in these countries allow some first-in-human trials to start faster than in the United States.

Steve Potts, chief executive of the small biotech company Breakthru Medicine, also said that at a conference he attended in May this year, nearly all of the roughly 60 biotech CEOs planned to conduct Phase 1 clinical trials in Australia, Europe or China.

"Five to 10 years ago, most of these trials would have been done in the United States," he said.

Concerns among American companies have shifted accordingly. Potts said that in the past, biotech companies were used to sharing early-stage research progress at industry conferences and financing roadshows, but now they are more inclined to keep things confidential, worried that competitors will borrow their ideas and advance R&D faster in China.

The speed of FDA regulation has thus become a focal point of discussion in the U.S. biotech industry. Heidi Overton, Trump's nominee for FDA commissioner, criticized at her confirmation hearing on September 24, 2026, that some FDA requirements are "slow and cumbersome" and could push investment toward countries with more flexible regulatory processes.

In the process of seeking treatment options for his mother, Max also came up with another idea.

A year ago, he quit his job at a tech company and founded a company that uses artificial intelligence to help cancer patients find clinical trials. The app integrates medical research databases, pharmaceutical company information and patient medical records to help patients find trial projects that better match their own conditions.

Currently, about 300 patients have used the app, all of them lung cancer patients, and Max has not charged them.

The starting point of this business was precisely his mother's experience seeking medication. There are numerous clinical trials, and enrollment criteria are very complex. Even if patients are willing to try new therapies, they may lose the opportunity because of some seemingly minor condition.

And Max is also clear that finding a new drug does not mean the story ends there. Cancer cells may gradually develop drug resistance, and patients will ultimately still need to find the next therapy.

One drug he is currently focused on is called firmonertinib (furmonertinib), which was approved in China in 2021 and is also being studied in the United States and other regions. In addition, he is also watching a new CAR-T therapy developed by the University of Colorado, hoping that in the future a new treatment direction can be found targeting the mutation driving his mother's cancer.

"Her cancer is metastatic and will eventually learn to get around this drug," Max said. "By then, we will have to rely on the newest and best therapies. If they happen to be in China, I will do everything I can to get there."

From Cheng Yong, played by Xu Zheng, to Max Doppelt, who flew to Shanghai, the two live in different eras and face different pharmaceutical environments. But their stories share one thing in common: when existing treatments cannot meet patients' needs, people will try every means to find the next glimmer of hope.

The difference is that "Dying to Survive" tells the story of how patients obtain affordable drugs; today's American version of the story further raises a question: when innovative drugs are developed, approved and launched at different speeds in different countries, whether patients can obtain them in time is becoming a question the global pharmaceutical industry must answer.

"The discovery of new drugs really connects us," Max said. "At the end of the day, we are all human." Channel: Healthcare. This content is published with the author's authorization, and the views represent only the author and do not represent the position of Huxiu. If you have objections or complaints about this manuscript, please contact tougao@huxiu.com. Everyone who is changing and wants to change the world is on the Huxiu APP[ ]