Early Treatment Support and Real-World Care Gaps

This episode maps the early weeks of oral zongertinib and the real-world factors that threaten them. The panel describes a model in which a clinical pharmacist calls the patient at home to confirm the drug has arrived and review administration, followed by an early advanced practice provider visit with labs, a second visit shortly after, and body imaging within the first few months. Faculty explain how community practices without an embedded thoracic pharmacist can replicate this through pharmacotherapy referrals, virtual visits, and phone outreach, and how pharmacists catch dosing nuances such as weight-based dosing and drug interactions. The discussion then examines why patients stop therapy outside trials, from distance and transportation barriers to unprepared reactions to low-grade diarrhea, and dispels the idea that dose reduction sacrifices efficacy. The episode closes on fragmented community care, where the time from diagnosis to drug in hand can stretch past a month.