The parents of Josh Hardy culminated a few days ago their campaign of pressure to the pharmaceutical company Chimerix so that it agreed to dispense a drug that is in the experimental phase. Now - and also with the support of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the seven-year-old has already received his first dose.
Josh is in a very difficult situation. the kidney cancer that was diagnosed at nine months - and eventually spread to other organs - came to join in January a adenovirus infection that is potentially fatal. It happened after a bone marrow transport, and the drug that can fight the virus was not yet authorized, although it seems that the FDA sometimes agrees to administer this type of drugs, as long as the disease that it intends to justify puts at risk patients' lives, and other treatments have failed.
So since last Wednesday, This child is part of a pilot study to study the effects of medication. For this, the company's executives have had to overcome their reluctance, based on financial, ethical reasons and based on the management criteria.
Josh is admitted to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis (Tennessee); and those responsible for the health center are the first to say that the safety and effectiveness of the medication has not been established for minors. However, they recognize that a child who has been fighting the disease for so long, and a family that has been able to mobilize in that way, deserve a chance.
Now the child is still admitted to the ICU, and still cannot eat or drink; their parents and siblings know that they have a long way to go, but hope is ahead.
We will keep an eye on the news of this fighting family, and we will want Josh's recovery.
