(CNN) -- After days of pleading with drug company executives, Josh Hardy's parents got what they'd been praying for: a chance to get medicine that could help their son survive. 
 
 The Chimerix pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that the ailing 7-year-old will receive medicine that doctors hope will help him when he becomes the first patient in a new trial set to start Wednesday. 
 
 Todd Hardy, Josh's father, said he got the call from Chimerix president Kenneth Moch about a half hour before the public announcement was made. 
 
 "It was wonderful," Hardy said. "Truly wonderful. It was overwhelming." 
 
 In an emotional Facebook post, mother Aimee Hardy praised the company's decision. 
 
 "Glory to GOD!" she wrote. "They are releasing the drug for Josh!!!!!!!!!" 
 
 The company had previously denied calls from the 7-year-old's family to give him the drug, brincidofovir, arguing that spending the time to help Josh and others like him would slow down efforts to get the drug on the market. 
 
 Josh's story drew national attention as his parents and supporters pushed the company to change its mind in online and media campaigns. 
 
 CNN told Josh's story Sunday night, describing his parents' desperate pleas for help from Chimerix. 
 
 Josh's journey began when he was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer at 9 months old. Over the years, cancer turned up in his thymus, lung, and bone marrow, and each time Josh beat it. 
 
 But a bone marrow transplant left Josh without much of an immune system, and in February doctors diagnosed him with an adenovirus that spread through his body. 
 
 Now he's in critical condition in an intensive care unit as the virus ravages his body. Josh is in heart and kidney failure. He vomits blood several times an hour as his family gathers in vigil. 
 
 His doctors at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis had also been pushing for the company to provide the drug. 
 
 In a statement Tuesday, the hospital said it expected to receive the medication within 48 hours, but noted that its safety and effectiveness has not yet been established for use in children. 
 
 "It is also important to understand that this remains a critical and complex medical situation," the hospital said. 
 
 "St. Jude will continue to pursue state-of-the-art treatment for Josh and all of our patients. We are grateful for the efforts of Chimerix, the FDA and many others who worked to achieve this outcome. We ask that you continue to keep Josh and his family in your thoughts." 
 
 An FDA policy known as "compassionate use" allows someone with a serious or life-threatening disease to ask a drug company for an experimental drug. 
 
 Though it's called compassionate use, sometimes it feels anything but compassionate. 
 
 Companies often say yes: The FDA approved 974 compassionate use arrangements in fiscal year 2013. 
 
 But pharmaceutical companies often say no, as Chimerix did at first to Josh Hardy. 
 
 Moch previously told CNN he wouldn't back down from his decision not to give Josh the drug. 
 
 He said Tuesday that he hopes the new FDA-approved study will help other patients as well. 
 
 "I'm happy for Josh and I'm happy for many patients," Moch said. "We've come up with a way of helping not just Josh, but helping other patients in need, and there are many." 
 
 Over the past two years, the company has received more than 80 requests for compassionate use of brincidofovir from patients like Hardy, according to Moch. 
 
 Todd Hardy hailed Moch as a hero. 
 
 "He's a super man. He worked diligently on behalf of everybody," Hardy said. "His integrity was unquestioned. He was utterly professional." 
 
 A Facebook page dedicated to the online campaign to help Josh get the medicine posted a thank-you message to supporters Tuesday night. 
 
 "Thank you to every member of Josh's Army. The world has heard you and because of you Josh and many others will have the opportunity to receive CMX001 (Brincidofovir) the life saving antiviral drug made by Chimerix." 
 
 In cancer drug battle, both sides appeal to ethics 
 
 CNN's Ed Payne, Jennifer Moore and Jennifer Bixler contributed to this report. ||||| Josh Hardy, a first-grader at Hugh Mercer Elementary School in Fredericksburg, is set to receive a potentially lifesaving drug while fighting for his life at St. Jude Children’s Research Center in Memphis, Tenn. 
 
 The drug company, Chimerix, said Tuesday it worked out a deal with the Food and Drug Administration for a clinical trial of the drug, and Josh will be the first recipient. 
 
 After the young cancer victim underwent a recent bone-marrow transplant, there were complications and his health deteriorated. He developed an adenovirus, and the only drug that his family believes would help save his life is not yet widely available. 
 
 It lacks FDA approval and Chimerix was initially unable to supply Josh with the medication. 
 
 But Chimerix worked with the FDA to expedite additional trials. 
 
 “We have been working aggressively and intimately with the FDA for a long period of time,” Kenneth Moch, the president and CEO of Chimerix, said in a telephone interview with The Free Lance–Star on Tuesday night. 
 
 Josh’s family reacted on social media, where Josh’s story spread widely. 
 
 “Glory to GOD. They are releasing the drug to Josh!!!!!” wrote Aimee Hardy, Josh’s mom, on her Facebook page. 
 
 Josh’s story brought public attention to the impact of an adenovirus infection and the need for additional clinical development to assess the drug’s potential. 
 
 “They helped bring forth a discussion” Moch said of the Hardy family. 
 
 The company had been in talks with the FDA, but could not reveal that because it did not want to get hopes up, Moch said. 
 
 “We had to figure out a way to make it available to many people in need,” he said. 
 
 Brincindofovir will be released to 20 patients in an open-label study, beginning today with Josh. 
 
 The FDA has committed to work expeditiously with Chimerix on the design of a pivotal Phase 3 study that would be a continuation of this pilot study, according to a press release from Chimerix. 
 
 The drug was on its way to Memphis on Tuesday night and could be administered to Josh Wednesday morning. 
 
 A campaign through social media had erupted to flood Chimerix with phone calls and emails urging the company to change its mind about giving Josh a dose of the medicine he needs. Josh’s story has attracted national attention. 
 
 Family members have appeared on national television, including shows on CNN and Fox News, throughout the week to plead Josh’s case to Chimerix. Family members were scheduled to appear Wednesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” It wasn’t clear Tuesday evening whether that appearance was still scheduled. 
 
 Moch said in the interview that social media can be good, like the support that erupted for the Hardy family. But it also can be bad—like death threats to Moch and other employees of Chimerix. 
 
 A Facebook page set up to support Josh, called “Save Josh” attracted more than 15,000 fans. Thousands of tweets were sent to Chimerix’s Twitter handle, with #savejosh. Online petitions were set up on whitehouse.gov and change.org that attracted thousands of signatures in support of Josh. 
 
 On the Facebook page, part of the message posted after the good news came said, “You did it. You Saved Josh. Thanks you Chimerix and Josh’s Army.” 
 
 Local organizations, including Foode, Old Towne Butcher, The Fairy Godmother Project and charities around the country joined to support the Hardy family. 
 
 Foode offered “Joshburgers” Tuesday in exchange for people signing letters to send to Moch. More than 500 people signed letters. 
 
 Earlier this week, two groups of people had organized trips to Chimerix’s headquarters in Durham, N.C., Thursday to peacefully protest outside of the company and support Josh’s family. 
 
 Lindley Estes contributed to this report. 
 
 Robyn Sidersky: 540/374-5413 
 
 rsidersky@freelancestar.com 
 
 Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2014/03/11/chimerix-approves-drug-for-josh-hardy/
– After a social media campaign—and an avalanche of bad publicity—a drug company has done a U-turn and agreed to give a dying 7-year-old boy an experimental drug that could save his life. The FDA allows "compassionate use"of unapproved drugs in such cases, but the Chimerix pharmaceutical company had insisted that giving the drug to Josh Hardy, who developed a bone marrow disorder after cancer treatment, would delay efforts to get it to market, CNN reports. Chimerix president Kenneth Moch says Josh will be the first patient in a pilot trial for the drug. "Being unable to fulfill requests for compassionate use is excruciating, and not a decision any one of us ever wants to have to make," says Moch, who tells the Fredericksburg Lance-Star that he and his employees have received death threats amid a flood of pleas to help the Virginia boy. Josh is expected to receive the drug within 48 hours, though his mother fears he is running out of time. "Even though he is frail, he has a very strong will about him," she tells Fox News. "But things just keep stacking against him, and we just want to do everything we can to give him the opportunity to make a full recovery."