Whither Austin, Part Two: Andi Sloane

Andi Sloane

Many of you may have heard of Ms. Sloane. She was a tough cancer survivor, who spent her career helping others with legal problems. Recently she made headlines for fighting against BioMarin's lack of a "compassionate use policy" that would have provided her breakthrough drug treatment against her reoccurring cancer. She passed away just yesterday. Ms. Sloane inspired many of my friends and others, who joined "Andi's Army" to help her and others fight this scourge.

Hoping you'll take a little time to read and take away that much still remains to be done in the fight against cancer.

Prayers and condolences to her friends and family.

From KXAN TV's web site:

AUSTIN (KXAN) - After a seven-year battle with cancer, Andrea Sloan passed away on Wednesday evening.
In a Facebook post to the Andi's Army page, Sloan's mother, Karen Sloan, said her daughter died after complications brought on by pneumonia.
Sloan was diagnosed with ovarian cancer seven years ago, at age 37. When her cancer returned in August, Sloan asked California-based drug manufacturer, BioMarin, to grant her compassionate use of their experimental drug, BMN 673, developed specifically to fight her type of genetic ovarian cancer, as well as genetic, or BRCA 1, breast cancer.
But BioMarin repeatedly denied Sloan the drug, citing concerns about safety and effectiveness.

• The Andrea Sloan Saga: Full coverage

BMN 673 is one of nearly a dozen in a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors currently in clinical trials. Sloan's doctors at MD Anderson believe this class of drugs is her best hope, since all other traditional treatments have been exhausted. But BioMarin would not grant Sloan compassionate use, even though their drug is headed in to Phase 3 trials and has been highly touted by company executives for its results in the first two phases of clinical trials.
Sloan and her doctors fought publicly for access to the drug through compassionate use, since she met all of the criteria required by the Food and Drug Administration. The compassionate use system allows patients who meet the requirements access to promising medicine even before all of the clinical trials are complete.
Behind the scenes, Sloan and her physicians were exploring other avenues, as it became clear BioMarin would not grant her access to their drug. In October, they learned another drug manufacturer agreed to grant compassionate use of their experimental PARP inhibitor to Sloan.
Sloan and her physician at MD Anderson, Dr. Charles Levenback, wanted to reform the compassionate use system for other patients. She amassed a large social media following in her campaign to gain compassionate use. An online petition has garnered more than 180,000 signatures supporting her cause.
Sloan was the director of the Texas Advocacy Project where she provided free legal advice for victims of domestic violence.