Director SGPGI Prof Radha Krishan Dhiman handing over the made in india medicine to a patient at the institute
An SGPGI official handing over the made in india medicine to a patient at the institute Director SGPGI Prof Radha Krishan Dhiman handing over the made in india medicine to a patient at the institute An SGPGI official handing over the made in india medicine to a patient at the institute Director SGPGI Prof Radha Krishan Dhiman handing over the made in india medicine to a patient at the institute Lucknow: Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) has begun providing a ‘Made in India’ oral therapy to children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), issuing medicines to the first batch of 15 patients free of cost under the National Policy for Rare Diseases (NPRD). “For a 20-kg child, foreign-made versions of this drug cost about Rs 1-2 crore per year. But the expenditure comes down to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum with the Made in India counterpart, which is up to nearly 57 times cheaper,” he said. He added that distribution to another 50 children is underway and noted that SGPGI is among 15 centres across the country rolling out the medicine to eligible children.
Prof Kaushik Mandal, head of the Medical Genetics department at SGPGIMS, said the Indian-made version dramatically lowers the cost of treatment. SMA is a rare genetic disorder in which a faulty gene results in a shortage of a protein essential for the survival of motor neurons, leading to progressive muscle weakness and muscle wasting. One of the available treatment options is Risdiplam, an RNA-splicing modifier that acts on RNA to increase production of the protein needed for motor-neuron survival.