Posted by Michael Wonder on 14 Feb 2019
Cystic fibrosis breakthrough: hope for British sufferers as life-saving drug talks resume
14 February 2019 - Britain's cystic fibrosis sufferers have received fresh hope of receiving a life-saving drug after officials agreed to sit down together to try and end a funding deadlock.
The Daily Express crusade for Orkambi to be made available to sufferers secured its first breakthrough after Health Secretary Matt Hancock and US drug maker Vertex on Wednesday agreed to resume talks on a deal.
Families have pleaded with Vertex and UK health chiefs to end a seven-month stalemate over a rebuffed £500m NHS offer for the firm’s portfolio of vital and unique CF drugs, with an online petition hitting 57,000 signatures. In the three years Orkambi has been unavailable on the NHS, it is feared up to 220 cystic fibrosis men, women and young children have needlessly died.
