Jonathan O'Grady

There are three drugs approved by the HSE.

And we know that they work better if they are given at the earliest possible stage.

And now with this heel prick test,

their children have this opportunity.

I think it's important that your listeners understand that SMA is a rare disease.

There are probably only about six children a year in Ireland born with SMA out of 60,000 births per year in Ireland.

So it's a very small percentage.

Most people listening to the radio today who are about to have children are

You know, they'll tick to do the heel prick test.

Ireland has a very high percentage of enrollment and acceptance of the heel prick test.

It's very highly trusted.

And, you know, for good reason, because the Temple Street laboratory works very hard.

They have a very good safety record.

And for the lion's share of people, it's going to come back that everything is absolutely fine, which is great.

But for the very, very small percentage where there is a problem, we now know that we have the treatment and it's only good news.