10 March 2019 - The UK is going to be at a distinct disadvantage in this negotiation – desperate for a deal the US could happily live without.

The fight over access to the life-changing cystic fibrosis medicine Orkambi is emblematic of the challenge facing the NHS from ever-higher drug prices, as patients fall into the yawning gap between what the NHS can afford, and the price the US drug company, Vertex, is demanding.

This week, the Health and Social Care Select Committee hauled all the parties – Vertex, NHS England, and NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the body that decides on the cost effectiveness of a medicine) – over the coals in a bid to resolve a dispute that has lasted over three years.

Read The Independent article