The teenage girl from Patna, who won a court battle to gain access to the highly controlled anti-Tuberculosis drug, Bedaquline, was discharged from Hinduja Hospital in Mahim on Monday. Doctors said the patient was “progressing satisfactorily”.
The bedaquiline course was started on February 4 and will go on for six months. The girl’s father said, “It would be too early to say that she has recovered. But she is definitely doing better.” He said they were planning to return to Patna. While the drug is now being administered to her daily, it will be later reduced to thrice a week.
Bedaquiline has been developed after a gap of over 40 years and was granted approval in 2012. The Indian government acquires the drug manufactured by a Belgian firm through USAID and it is then disbursed to six trial sites including Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Guwahati. The girl’s family did not have a domicile in either of the trial cites and in January the Delhi High Court allowed her access to the drug. The bedaquiline for the girl has come from KEM Hospital in Parel.
Published - March 01, 2017 12:29 am IST
