Ailing Venezuelan Boy Gets Liver Medicine After Donation

Photographer: Meridith Kohut/Bloomberg

Protesters clash with riot police during an anti-government demonstration in Caracas,... Read More

Protesters clash with riot police during an anti-government demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 18, 2014. Close

Protesters clash with riot police during an anti-government demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 18, 2014.

An 11-month-old Venezuelan boy awaiting a liver transplant received a one-year supply of medicine his father struggled to find due to shortages of pharmaceuticals and protests in the South American nation.

New York-based Retrophin Inc. (RTRX) sent the supplies of ursodeoxycholic acid after executives read how the boys father, Joel Correa, had to take eight-hour trips to the Colombian border to buy the medicine. The drug keeps his toddlers liver working until a transplant can be carried out.

The biopharmaceutical company learned of the boys plight from a Bloomberg News article on Feb. 14. Delivery of the medicine was delayed by a week as protests in Venezuela over shortages of goods, including medicine, disrupted transport.

This has been a blessing to us, Correa, a 26-year-old tool salesman, said in a phone interview from San Cristobal. A whole family and many hearts are grateful for the help with the treatment, Correa wrote separately in an e-mail to Retrophin executives.

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