NHS England’s offer for Vertex’s cystic fibrosis therapies not yet accepted

NHS England has offered approximately £500 million during the next five years and more than £1 billion during the next 10 years for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ cystic fibrosis therapies Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and Kalydeco (ivacaftor), and Symdeco once it is licensed in the UK, plus Vertex’ investigational next generation triple therapy, currently in advanced clinical trials. This would enable an extra 4,955 patients to receive treatment for the genetic causes of cystic fibrosis this year.
Vertex however says the offer represents around £14k for each patient per year, which is almost a 90% discount on what Germany pays for just Orkambi. It is not convinced these sums recognise the true value of its current and future products, and the difference their drug pipeline will make.
Vertex said: “We appreciate NHS England’s counter-offer and hope it signals a willingness to re-engage in discussions to reach our collective goal of providing access to our CF medicines for patients. While we are evaluating the proposal, we share the CF community’s concerns that this proposal fails to adequately reflect the value of our current and future medicines – and the number of patients that will be treated with these medicines – and stand ready to meet to find a productive path forward.”