Radio Host Max Parisi Flies to US for New Pancreatic Cancer Drug

Radio host Max Parisi flies to California for a costly new pancreatic cancer treatment after doctors in Italy tell him therapeutic options have ended.

Daraxonrasib approval and the financial battle in California

Parisi traveled to the United States and temporarily relocated to his mother-in-law’s home in California to access Daraxonrasib, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration. VanityFair.it reported that a 30-day supply of the medication costs over 42 thousand dollars, prompting Parisi’s wife, Louise, to launch an online fundraiser that surpassed 115 thousand dollars to cover two months of treatment. Sorting through the documents was therapeutic: I retraced the last twenty years spent alongside her and our daughters., declared Parisi, noting that his daughters are Sophia, 21 years old, and Vivienne, 16. On August 26, the news that gives him hope arrives: in the United States, a new drug that could offer him more time, Daraxonrasib, is approved.

Italian advocacy for compassionate use and production pressures

Parisi and his brother Alessandro are working to facilitate access to the treatment in Italy through extraordinary legal frameworks such as compassionate use, regulated by a ministerial decree from September 7, 2017, according to VanityFair.it. For now it is still in an experimental phase, but there are legal margins to activate extraordinary procedures such as compassionate use, which is defined by the ministerial decree from September 7, 2017, as the possibility of supplying free of charge an unauthorized drug to patients with severe, rare, or life-threatening diseases. Parisi also noted to VanityFair.it that the drug’s manufacturer, Revolution Medicines, is a relatively small pharmaceutical company facing intense global demand, raising concerns about potential supply shortages if demand exceeds production capacity. Revolution Medicines, the pharmaceutical company that produces Daraxonrasib, is not a “big pharma”, it is a relatively small company, explains Max.

A race against time for pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic cancer remains the deadliest malignancy, with data cited by VanityFair.it from the Italian Association for Cancer Research indicating that just 11 percent of men and 12 percent of women survive five years past diagnosis. According to the most recent data from Airc, the Italian Association for Cancer Research, 13,585 new cases of pancreatic cancer were estimated in 2024, which among malignancies is the deadliest. Parisi underwent two years of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation after an initial symptom of severe itching led to his diagnosis in 2024, continuing his radio broadcasts on Radio Monte Carlo until running out of treatment options.

Data from the Italian Association for Cancer Research estimated 13,585 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2024.