“If I were 10 percent less mean or 10 percent less stubborn, I’d probably be dead,” Sarah, a multiple sclerosis patient, said when describing her year-long battle to obtain the medication that could alter the course of the incurable condition and extend her productive life for years.

Diagnosed at age 37, Sarah said she experienced symptoms of this disease of the central nervous system, which can include numbness, weakness, troubling walking, vision changes, and slurred speech.