Vertex Announces Northern Ireland Offer Accepted for Cystic Fibrosis Treatments

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) has announced that the Regional Pharmaceutical Procurement Service in Northern Ireland has accepted an offer for all current licensed Vertex cystic fibrosis (CF) treatments.

As quoted in the press release:

This means that once the contract is finalized, patients with CF in Northern Ireland ages 2 years and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator(CFTR) gene will have access to ORKAMBI^® (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and CF patients ages 12 years and older who either have two copies of the F508del mutation or one copy of the F508del mutation and a copy of one of the other 14 licensed mutations will have access to SYMKEVI^® (tezacaftor/ivacaftor) in combination with ivacaftor. We will support the arrangements being put in place to ensure clinicians will be able to prescribe to eligible patients within the next few weeks.

The agreement also offers expanded access to KALYDECO^® (ivacaftor) to include people ages 18 years and older who have the R117H mutation and those patients ages 12 months and older who have one of the nine licensed gating mutations.

“We are pleased that the nearly 280 eligible cystic fibrosis patients in Northern Ireland will soon have access to CFTR modulators to treat the underlying cause of their disease and we thank the authorities in Northern Ireland for their collaboration and commitment in this agreement,” said Ludovic Fenaux, Senior Vice President, Vertex International.

Click here to read the full press release.