AB 1887 Signed Into Law

For rare disease patients, every day is precious — time that should be spent on treatment, not on fighting for it.

Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 1887 into law — a critical step forward for California’s rare disease community. This legislation eliminates prior authorization and step therapy delays for FDA-approved rare disease treatments, ensuring patients can access the care their doctors prescribe without unnecessary insurance red tape.

Finding a cure for a rare disease is one of the hardest challenges in science. It can take over a decade and billions of dollars to bring a single treatment to patients. For every therapy that succeeds, researchers face years of failed trials and setbacks along the way. When that perseverance finally pays off, insurance shouldn’t be the obstacle standing between a patient and the treatment they’ve been waiting for.

We’re grateful to Assemblymember Rick Zbur, Chair of the CA Rare Disease Caucus, for his tireless leadership on this issue. His commitment to rare disease patients — rooted in his own family’s experience — never wavered, and California families are better off because of it.

For the 1 in 10 Californians living with a rare disease, every day of delay matters. AB 1887 recognizes that once a treatment is FDA-approved and prescribed by doctor, insurance shouldn’t be the last hurdle standing in the way.

This wouldn’t have been been possible without the advocacy of the California Chronic Care Coalition under the leadership of Liz Helms and countless members of the rare disease community who made their voices heard throughout this fight.