Posted by Michael Wonder on 20 Oct 2019
Vertex announces reimbursement of cystic fibrosis medicines Symdeko (tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) for eligible patients ages 12 and older, and Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) in children ages 2 to 5, with certain CFTR mutations in Australia
19 October 2019 - Vertex Pharmaceuticals today announced that Symdeko (tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) is reimbursed in Australia for people with cystic fibrosis ages 12 years and older who are homozygous for the F508del mutation or who have one copy of the F508del mutation and another responsive residual function (RF) mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.
People with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have one copy of the F508del mutation and another responsive RF mutation in the CFTR gene will have access to a medicine for the cause of their CF for the first time. In addition, Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) is now also reimbursed for the treatment of children with CF ages 2 to 5 who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the CFTR gene.
Patients over the age of 6 have already been able to access Orkambi in Australia since October 2018.
