MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WTVR) — The Fredericksburg parents who fought to have their seven-year-old son treated with an experimental drug say the medicine is working.
(SOURCE: Save Josh Facebook page)
Josh Hardy, who has beaten cancer four times, began being treated with Chimerix’s Brincidofovir at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis last week.
Aimee Hardy, Josh’s mother, said in a blog post that her son is “very close to getting out of the ICU.”
“After 2 doses of the Brincidofovir, the log copies in Josh’s blood went down to 1000. GOD is truly moving mountains in Josh’s life. And we are grateful we are able to be used to bring GOD Glory,” Hardy wrote.
His mother said that Josh is improving because the drug is suppressing the virus, but that he is not out of the woods yet.
“Josh has tremendous tummy pain because his body is not ridding itself of fluid because his kidneys are not functioning…. The kidney function is the last major key for Josh’s full recovery.”
Doctors had said the drug could significantly improve his condition in as little as two weeks.
Josh, who contracted a rare virus when his immune system was compromised during a life-saving bone marrow transplant, gained national attention after his family petitioned the North Carolina-based drug maker to allow him to be treated with the experimental drug.
Chimerixoriginally said the drug could not be released outside of controlled clinical trials. However, once the drug maker reached an agreement with the FDA, Josh became the first patient of an open-label trial of Brincidofovir.
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