Santiago Family Waits More Than a Year for High-Cost Cancer Medicine

A Dominican family says it has spent more than a year waiting for a cancer medicine that doctors prescribed for 70-year-old Rudy Rafael Guillén Cabrera.

“Always the same thing, ‘we are waiting,’ and I have been waiting since May 21, 2025,” said his family, describing its repeated dealings with the High-Cost Medicines Program.

Guillén Cabrera was diagnosed with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, with metastasis to the lungs, after developing a persistent cough and a mass on the left side of his abdomen in late 2023. His medical records say the disease had reached stage IV. Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer, accounting for about 80% of renal cell carcinoma cases, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

His son, Juan Luis Guillén Sosa, said doctors at Clínica Corominas in Santiago prescribed a tablet and an injection to be used together. The injection is Keytruda 100 mg, the brand name for pembrolizumab, which helps the immune system identify and attack cancer cells. A pharmacy in the country sells it for about 340,000 pesos, and Guillén Cabrera needs one injection every 21 days. His doctor has not yet specified how long the treatment will continue.

The family submitted its request to the government program on May 21, 2025, along with identity documents, medical records, test results, updated laboratory work, the medical prescription and a letter from the insurer. The application’s QR code shows those documents as uploaded, but the medicine delivery declaration, receipt confirmation and insurer preauthorization remain marked “pending.” Guillén Sosa said he has visited the program’s offices in Santiago and Santo Domingo while waiting for an answer.

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Always the same thing, ‘we are waiting,’ and I have been waiting since May 21, 2025.