Among Millions Afflicted, Too Few to Treat

(Beijing) – Zhao Lei is one of China's estimated 19,000 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients now on edge over the future of a drug program that helps them cope with the incurable nervous system disorder.

The anxiety has been building since January, when the German drugmaker Bayer Pharma AG and the state-backed China Charity Federation suspended a four-year-old program that offered about 1,000 MS patients the Bayer product Betaferon at reduced prices.