A Sick Child, a Lack of Drugs, and a Father Who Made His Own скачать в хорошем качестве

A Sick Child, a Lack of Drugs, and a Father Who Made His Own

When Xu Wei’s son Haoyang, born in 2019, was 8 months old, he was diagnosed with Menkes disease. Caused by a genetic defect that prevents the body from absorbing copper ions, the condition severely affects a child’s development. There is currently no cure, and the average life expectancy of those afflicted by the disease is only three years. Menkes disease is extremely rare. In China, people with uncommon illnesses often find the authorities have yet to approve medicines or treatments already available abroad. Despite the government addressing this issue in recent years, Xu came up against the same problem. A doctor told Xu about a compound called “copper histidine” that is effective in the treatment of Menkes but which has not been approved for use in China. Xu began researching medical papers on his own. He concluded that copper histidine is not difficult to prepare and that the raw materials he would need are affordable. In spite of huge legal risks and doubts from his family and friends that his high school education had sufficiently prepared him for experimenting in pharmaceutics, he decided to make his own medicine. For 20,000 yuan ($3,140), he asked someone to make copper histidine in a laboratory in Shanghai, and to film the entire process. Back in Yunnan, he quickly transformed his own utility room into a laboratory, purchased the equipment and materials, and concocted this blue liquid in the same way. Read more: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/100912... Fresh voices from today's China: News, stories and commentaries told from a human perspective. Find more China's stories on: https://www.sixthtone.com/ Follow us on: Facebook:   / sixthtone   Twitter:   / sixthtone   Instagram:   / sixthtone