Vertex Announces Agreement with NHS England for Access to All Licensed Cystic Fibrosis Medicines

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced an access agreement with NHS England for all currently licensed Vertex cystic fibrosis (CF) medicines and any future indications of these medicines.

This means that within 30 days patients with CF in England ages 2 years and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene can be prescribed ORKAMBI (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) by their doctor and CF patients ages 12 years and older who either have two copies of the F508del mutation or one copy of the F508del mutation and a copy of one of the other 14 licensed mutations can be prescribed SYMKEVI (tezacaftor/ivacaftor) in combination with ivacaftor.

The agreement also offers expanded access to KALYDECO (ivacaftor) to include people ages 18 years and older who have the R117H mutation and those patients ages 12 months and older who have one of the nine licensed gating mutations.

“Today is a significant day for the cystic fibrosis community in England. This important agreement, reached in collaboration and partnership with NHS England and NICE, will allow more than 5,000 eligible cystic fibrosis patients in England to have access to CFTR modulators to treat the underlying cause of their disease,” said Ludovic Fenaux, Senior Vice President, Vertex International.

In addition to England, reimbursement agreements have also recently been announced in Scotland, Australia and Spain.