6 February 2019 - Vertex Pharmaceuticals' cystic fibrosis business grew more than 40% in 2018, partially because of reimbursement victories in countries like Australia, Denmark and Sweden. One country has been particularly difficult to lock down, however, and Vertex doesn't see that changing in the near-term.

In the U.K., NICE has sparred with Vertex over the cost of its two-drug regimens. Now, Vertex is concerned that if it gains approval for one of its investigational triplets, the therapy will also face challenges getting U.K. reimbursement despite having strong clinical data.

"Even those results, when put into the NICE model, don’t come out with a valuation which we think in any way gets close to valuing the transformative nature of these medicines," said Stuart Arbuckle, Vertex's chief commercial officer, on a fourth quarter earnings call Tuesday. "So even for the triple, we are going to continue to need to work with England to change the assessment methodology for all medicines."

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