Posted by Michael Wonder on 12 Jan 2020
The Tories must learn from the Orkambi victory and keep drug-pricing off the table
12 January 2020 - To match its rhetoric on the NHS, the government has to legally commit to preventing drug-pricing being a part of trade deals.
In October 2019, the NHS finally struck a deal with pharmaceutical company Vertex to provide access to the cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi. After four years of heartbreak, thousands of children and adults finally got what they had been fighting for: the chance of a longer life.
While news of the announcement was quickly displaced by the election, the story behind the deal – and why Vertex capitulated – is a rich and meaningful one, and one we must take lessons from if we are to secure the future of the NHS. Despite overseeing a decade of collapsing standards of care, the Conservatives have won power with commitments to protect the NHS. But amid a growing global drug-pricing crisis, what can they learn from the Orkambi saga?
