Treatment for ill baby after plea

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An Aberdeenshire baby will receive expensive life-saving treatment - despite the drug not being officially sanctioned for use in Scotland.

Eight-month-old Sean Tye suffers from a rare muscle-wasting disease.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium had said it was not a cost effective therapy at £40,000-a-year.

However, doctors in Glasgow have told his parents he should receive it, although the annual cost may rise to £200,000 as Sean grows older.

Yafan Zhao and her husband Sam Tye have been keeping a hospital bedside vigil in Glasgow with their son, who is now surviving on oxygen.

The couple learned a week ago that their son may not see his first birthday, when he was diagnosed with Pompe Disease, a rare condition which disables the heart and muscles.

The only treatment is an expensive enzyme replacement therapy.

The drug Myozyme is available to all infant patients south of the border but has not been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, which provides advice to Scotland's NHS boards.

An NHS Grampian spokesman said: "We're pleased to hear that Glasgow's expert panel believe the drug will clinically benefit Sean, and the funding will be put in place by NHS Grampian."