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What do you do when your child's life is dependent on a Rs 16 crore drug?

What do you do when your child’s life is dependent on a Rs 16 crore drug? © Provided by The Times of India Ayaansh was about eight months old when his family realised something was wrong he could not crawl or sit up, struggled to have milk or food, and had no neck control. The paediatrician would say that it could be a milestone delay. “But, when he did not achieve any milestone at nine months, we visited a neurologist and were shocked to hear that he had Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA),” says Yogesh Gupta, Ayaansh’s father. This was in June 2019. Two years on, the family’s hopes are pinned on a wonder drug - Zolgensma. However, the medicine costs $2.125m (around Rs 16 crore) are prohibitive. So far, the family has been able to raise Rs 1.4 crore and are requesting NGOs, philanthropists and the government to help.

What price a child's life? India's quest to make rare disease drugs affordable

India launched a registry of rare disease patients in 2017 but it is far from complete. Unlike the US, which has economic incentives for pharmaceutical companies under the Orphan Drug Act (to encourage development of drugs for diseases too rare to be worth pursuing otherwise), the Indian government does not offer such provision. Owing to countless generations of consanguineous and endogamous marriages – within extended families or within the same caste –that raise populations’ vulnerability to genetic disorders, the prevalence of rare diseases may be higher in some Indian ethnic groups. Newborn screening could diagnose many disorders at birth, since 80% of rare diseases are genetic. But barring a few Indian states, it is unavailable in government-run hospitals, where, in 2018, almost 55% of women gave birth.

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