The CEO Who Saved a Life and Lost His Job

January 22, 2015 at 8:37 PM UTC

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This article is part of the January 26, 2015 issue of businessweek.

In early 2014, 7-year-old Josh Hardy was dying. He’d been battling kidney cancer since he was a baby and survived 10 intensive chemotherapy treatments, which severely weakened his immune system. Soon after undergoing a bone marrow stem cell transplant last January, he developed a life-threatening respiratory virus.

Chimerix, a small biotechnology company in Durham, N.C., had an experimental, unapproved drug in development that might help, Josh’s doctor at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital told the boy’s family. They twice asked Chimerix to provide Josh the drug and were refused both times. “Please help us save our son,” his mother, Aimee, wrote on her Facebook page on March 6. “If anyone with influence can help us convince the Chimerix Inc to release the drug for compassionate care for our son, we would be forever grateful.”