Guests/Speakers
Stephanie Williams – Lung cancer patient, LCFA Speakers Bureau member
Dr. Coral Olazagasti – Medical Oncologist, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Miami, Florida
If you’ve heard the word “SubQ” at your oncology appointment and nodded along without fully understanding what it means, you’re not alone. Lung cancer patient and LCFA Speakers Bureau member Stephanie Williams sits down with Dr. Coral Olazagasti, a medical oncologist at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami, Florida, to unpack what subcutaneous treatment really means — and why it matters to patients living with lung cancer every day.
SubQ, Simply Explained
Subcutaneous, or SubQ, simply means “under the skin.” Unlike intravenous (IV) treatment, which requires a catheter placed into a vein and a slow infusion drip over minutes or even hours, a SubQ injection goes directly into the fatty tissue beneath the skin — similar to how insulin or allergy shots are administered. The medication is then gradually absorbed into the bloodstream, bypassing the need for IV access entirely. Dr. Olazagasti explains,
“A drug that is given subcutaneously doesn’t need a catheter. It just goes directly from the needle into under your skin and your fatty tissue, and that way the drug is administered very, very slowly and eventually absorbed into your bloodstream.”
Real-World Problems SubQ Is Solving
For patients living with lung cancer, the burdens of treatment extend far beyond the medical. There’s financial toxicity, emotional weight, physical side effects — and then there’s the sheer logistics of getting to and from an infusion center, sometimes for hours at a time.
SubQ treatment addresses several of these challenges at once:
- No IV access required. Patients with difficult veins, bruising, or fragile skin no longer need to worry about catheter placement or vein infiltration.
- Dramatically shorter chair time. What might take hours in an infusion center can often be completed in minutes with a SubQ injection.
- Less anxiety before appointments. As Stephanie shares, even the small things — like not leaving the clinic with a COBAN wrap around your arm — can meaningfully shift how a patient feels about their treatment day.
- Easier on caregivers and families. Dr. Olazagasti notes that many of her patients travel long distances for care, sometimes from Naples, the Florida Keys, or Fort Myers. Cutting treatment time from hours to under an hour means a family member can wait — rather than drop off, drive away, and return hours later through traffic.
Is SubQ Just as Effective?
This is often the first question patients ask — and it’s a fair one. Dr. Olazagasti is direct: the goal of SubQ formulations is to maintain the same clinical efficacy as IV delivery while improving the patient experience. The science is there. The conversation in the clinic is about making sure patients know they don’t have to choose between outcomes and quality of life.
“We don’t want cancer to just define who they are,” Dr. Olazagasti says. “We just want it to be just one other issue or one other problem that they’re facing throughout their life.”
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you’re currently receiving IV treatment and want to know whether a SubQ option exists for your medication, Dr. Olazagasti encourages patients to ask directly and without hesitation. Some questions to bring to your next appointment:
- Is there a subcutaneous version of the drug I’m currently receiving?
- If it’s not available now, is it something that’s in the pipeline?
- If a SubQ version becomes available during my treatment, would I be a candidate to switch?
Dr. Olazagasti is clear that no question is a bad question — and that asking doesn’t mean you distrust your care team. “We’re a team,” she says. “It’s just a two-way street.”
Need help starting that conversation? LCFA’s free SubQ Treatment Toolkit includes a ready-to-use conversation guide designed specifically to help you talk to your doctor about SubQ options. Download the free toolkit.
Empowerment Through Options
Stephanie draws a powerful parallel between SubQ treatment and the broader principles of patient self-advocacy she shares with newly diagnosed patients: pursue biomarker testing, seek a second opinion, and find a support community. Each of these steps is about reclaiming a sense of control in the face of a diagnosis that can feel overwhelming.
SubQ treatment fits squarely into that framework. Dr. Olazagasti affirms,
“Anytime that you can have options, it feels like you’re gaining back your power.”
Not every patient will want to switch — and that’s okay too. For those who are comfortable with their current regimen and tolerating it well, staying the course is a valid choice. But for patients who want shorter visits, less invasive administration, and a little more normalcy woven back into their days, SubQ may be worth the conversation.
The Bottom Line
SubQ treatment isn’t a workaround or a compromise. It’s a meaningful evolution in how cancer medications can be delivered — one that keeps patients at the center of the equation. As more drugs become available in subcutaneous formulations, the conversation between patients and their oncologists will only grow more important.
If you’re living with lung cancer, ask the question. Your care team is ready to answer it.
