Jammu, April 16 -- Apex Court has to ensure supply of life saving drugs without legal hurdles

By K. M. Gopakumar

Two recent interim orders of the Supreme Court have pushed the lives of people living with rare diseases to the edge. These two orders were passed in two separate special leave petitions ('SLP') filed by the Union challenging the High Court orders of Delhi and Kerala which advanced access to treatment for rare diseases. These interim orders virtually blocked any possibility of affordable treatment to many people living with rare disease ('PLRD') who need treatments that are available at a high cost such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy ('SMA'), Cystic fibrosis ('CF'), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ('DMD') etc.

Apart from staying the...