As HSE, Government, and Respreeza drugmaker bicker, one man’s life hangs in the balance

John Hannan has been a ‘guinea pig’ for Respreeza for 11 years. Now, due to the reported €84k-a-year cost, he faces losing access to a drug that’s proven a lifesaver. He talks to Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan

John Hannan sits in a chair as a drug, diluted in a bag of fluid, drips slowly into his veins. There are three witnesses to this event: Myself, a photographer and the nurse who set up his infusion.

It’s not too far a stretch to say the image is slightly suggestive of a prison execution, because, in a way, John feels a bit like an inmate on Death Row. He sits in a chair at Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre as four-and-a-bit vials of human alpha1-proteinase inhibitor, brand name Respreeza, works its way into his bloodstream for what looks like the final time.