Dubai’s Medcare Hospital Becomes the World’s First to Treat an Adult Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Patient Outside the US
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 28, 2026:
Medcare Royal Speciality Hospital (MRSH) in Dubai has become the world’s first hospital outside the USA, to offer a newly licensed intrathecal gene therapy - Itvisma, to adult patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). This one-time treatment was recently administered to a 22-year-old Egyptian patient, who was diagnosed at 18 months and confined to a wheelchair for most of his life.
Last year, Medcare also became the first healthcare provider globally to administer the newly licensed Itvisma to a four-year-old international SMA patient.
SMA is a rare neuromuscular disease that leads to progressive muscle weakness and loss of mobility, impacting movement, breathing, and swallowing. Unti...