A 19-month-old girl has become the first child in the UK to receive a revolutionary gene therapy for a fatal disorder.
Teddi Shaw suffers from deadly metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), but has been given the chance of a normal life thanks to one of the world’s most expensive drugs. The therapy, Libmeldy, has been approved on the NHS for the condition, which is inherited and rare and causes serious damage to the nervous system and organs, dramatically cutting life expectancy.
The treatment had a list price of £2.8 million when it was approved last year, but NHS England reached agreement with the firm Orchard Therapeutics to offer it at a discounted price.
