Patients who first started treatment in September received their fourth dose of Spinraza this week.
According to the instructions for the drug, the loading dose is 4 injections. Patients with spinal muscular atrophy, who are able to receive treatment, say that they felt an improvement after only three injections. Therefore, 13-year-old Marta can get up from a chair on her own, and 17-year-old Veronika manages to lie down on the bed, raise her legs, hold her head longer and not get tired.
“The next injection is in four months, in March. An objective assessment is possible after the fifth injection, but already now we can talk about positive dynamics – the girls are more lively, the volume of active movements has increased, they eat better and feel much better. 27 children from Lviv Oblast, aged from 2 to 18, need such treatment,” said Marta Sheremet, a pediatrician at ZUSDMC.
The hospital received the drug Spinraza for the treatment of SMA free of charge from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The Lviv Regional Clinical Hospital also received medicine against this disease for adult patients.