Inside STAT: Before signing up for a drug trial, she wants to know: Can I afford it? 

(EROS DERVISHI FOR STAT)

In “The Medicine Hunters,” a sweeping two-part series, STAT’s Eric Boodman brings to life a strange journey from mountain pasture to clinical trial — “a story,” he says, “about both the wondrous biology behind a potential cancer treatment and the reality of living with a complex illness in America.”

It started, mysteriously, with an epidemic of one-eyed lambs. Ranchers were perplexed, and called in government scientists for help. But what they pinpointed as the culprit wasn’t just a poison; it was also a promising ingredient for cancer drugs. Now, after a 60-year saga, this livestock-scourge-turned-medicine needs one last bit of testing in rare-disease patients. Before volunteering, though, Kaylene Sheran had a question: If the drug works, is there any guarantee that she’ll be able to afford the final product? Read part one of the series here.