A drug maker decided late Tuesday to send a drug to St. Jude which could save the life of 7-year-old Josh Hardy.
The Hardys say the company will send brincidofovir to the hospital Wednesday evening.
Aimee Hardy didn’t want to leave her son’s bedside, but said in a statement:
“Please know that we truly appreciate the help you have given us, and we are forever grateful for everyone that took part in the social media campaign. It is completely unbelievable what has transpired since last Thursday. Nothing short of a miracle. We are so thankful that Chimerix was able to release the medicine for Josh. The truth of the matter is he is still in the ICU, and we would like to focus on him making a full recovery.”
St. Jude said in a statement:
This drug is experimental and has not yet been approved by the FDA and the safety and effectiveness of the medication has not yet been established for use in children. For this reason, it will be administered under a new treatment protocol as approved by a committee charged with compliance to federal and institutional regulations for clinical research (IRB). It is also important to understand that this remains a critical and complex medical situation.
St. Jude will continue to pursue state-of-the-art treatment for Josh and all of our patients. We are grateful for the efforts of Chimerix, the FDA and many others who worked to achieve this outcome. We ask that you continue to keep Josh and his family in your thoughts.
(Memphis) A 7-year-old St. Jude patient is in the intensive care unit as a virus destroys his heart and kidney.
There’s medicine that will likely cure Josh Hardy, but the drug company refuses to give it to him, saying that helping Josh would hurt others.
Since Josh was 9 months old, he has beat cancer four times.
When he got a bone marrow transplant last year, Josh faced another battle – he caught an adenovirus that spread through his body.
“He had the bone marrow cells administered January 10. On January 14, we went to the ICU, and we have been there since. He had heart failure, kidney failure and major lung issues,” said his mom Aimee, who remains strong and continues to pray for a miracle.
Aimee Hardy said there’s only one experimental drug that’s not approved by the FDA that can likely save him, and St. Jude doctors have requested it several times.
The North Carolina drug company, Chimerix, won’t give it to him saying if they help Josh, they won’t be able to get the drug to market in 2016 and save more lives.
“They have the opportunity to be a real life superhero for a little 7-year-old, and they’re not they are focused on going to market,” said Aimee Hardy.
She said Josh is depressed and worried what’s to come. The only thing he’s looking forward to is his eighth birthday on March 31st.
“I asked, ‘Buddy, what do you want for your birthday?’ and he’s like, ‘To be out of the hospital, to drink whatever I want when I want, and I want and to walk on my own.’ The things we all take for granted,” she said.
Josh loves basketball. His favorite player is Lebron James. His dream is to go to the Memphis Grizzlies game on April 9 against Miami Heat.
You can keep up with the Josh Hardy on Facebook.
The family also started a petition on change.org.
