“A treatment that was benefiting me, preventing further disability and also made me regain a large amount of my strength, has now been stopped overnight,” rues 29-year-old Aditya Bhatia, who suffers from a rare condition FSHD Muscular Dystrophy.
Bhatia, a para athlete, was receiving stem cell therapy as part of a clinical trial since 2013 in New Delhi at a clinic called Nutech Mediworld, after being diagnosed with the condition in 2012.
The treatment, however, wasn’t stopped on a whim. It was discontinued after the government enacted new rules for the mostly unregulated industry. On 19 March, the Union Health Ministry had notified New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, which for the first time include “stem cell derived products” as “new drugs”. And treatments will have to go through approvals, with clinics having to procure licences for the same.