WASHINGTON — Josh Hardy, the Fredericksburg first-grader who is battling a possibly life-threatening virus, will receive the drug that may save him.
The Free-Lance Star reports that Hardy, who is at the St. Jude Children’s Research Center in Memphis, Tenn., will be given the drug to fight the adenovirus he developed after a bone-marrow transplant as a cancer treatment.
The drug that might save him, called Brincindofovir, has not been approved by the FDA, but the drug-maker Chimerix, after consulting with the agency, has set up a new clinical trial.
“We have been working aggressively and intimately with the FDA for a long period of time,” Kenneth Moch, the president and CEO of Chimerix, told The Free Lance-Star on Tuesday.
Moch told the Free-Lance Star that the company had already been negotiating with the FDA, but couldn’t tell anyone because they didn’t want to raise hopes.
Josh’s grandmother Mae Staton told NBC Washington she was ecstatic when she heard the news.
“We were all so excited. I screamed when I heard the news from my daughter,” Staton told NBC Washington.
Staton says the drug is the last hope for Josh.
“[The doctors] said without this drug, that Josh could not survive,” she told NBC Washington.
Aimee Hardy, Josh’s mom, let the supporters know about the good news on her Facebook page.
“Glory to GOD. They are releasing the drug to Josh!!!!!” Amy wrote, according to the paper.
Josh may get the drug as early as Wednesday.
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