Family begs drug company for medicine to save 7-year-old's life
Josh Hardy, 7, has beaten cancer four times in his short life, but after all that he's now struggling to get the medication he needs to stay alive.
'The drug he needs to survive a very curable virus is being denied because the manufacturer says it can't afford to give him the drug,' Fox & Friends reports.
Josh developed an infection called adenovirus while recovering from a bone marrow transplant. His mother Aimee Hardy wrote on his CaringBridge blog:
'Normally, Josh's immune system would be able to handle [the] adenovirus if his immune system was set free. The challenge is his immune system can't be set free yet because his body is still trying to adapt to the new bone marrow cells. So to keep the body from killing the new cells, they have to suppress the immune system, thus creating ideal conditions for adenovirus to advance. Catch 22.'
WTTG has more on the fight to get Josh the medication he needs from drug company Chimerix.
'Josh's doctor says there's a drug in the trial phase that could save his life, but the company won't provide it.'
'How would we say no to the dozens, hundreds and potentially thousands of other requests we'd get for this drug?'
Chimerix says it originally made the drug available for compassionate use. However, due to high demand, the company could not supply enough, so it had to stop releasing it two years ago. Chimerix says it's waiting for the FDA to approve the drug before selling it.
Josh's grandmother spoke to WRC-TV about her family's desperate attempt to save Josh.
'I just, I just plea with the drug company to release this drug to save Josh's life.'
The family has started a social media campaign with the hashtag #SaveJosh in hopes the attention will persuade Chimerix to release the drug.
