brincidofovir (cmx001) was the subject of widespread social media campaigning in 2014, which was then picked up by national news sources about a boy with an adenovirus infection following a bone marrow transplant. the family requested legal access to the still-unapproved drug outside of any clinical trial, and chimerix initially denied the request. after a short and intense media campaign, chimerix got permission from the fda to start a limited open-label trial which allowed the boy to receive the drug. this media event sparked a debate on the ethics of using social media, the allocation of limited resources of a small company, and the emphasis on the individual over the group. the new use of any drug has the potential to interfere with the process to get the drug approved and widely marketed, through means such as consuming limited staff time that may be needed elsewhere – staff time that has the potential to save thousands of lives in the long-term, rather than one life now – overwhelming manufacturing capabilities, or by causing adverse effects or even death. these adverse events are more likely during these programs, because the people seeking access are usually much sicker than most, and problems experienced by these people can result in an unfavorable and inaccurate perception of the drug's safety profile. in this case, the boy recovered from the infection in 2014, and died in 2016 from complications of cancer.