Around 500 people with cystic fibrosis have been told that, while there is a drug available to help them with their disease, it’s too expensive to give it to them. The drug Orkambi would cost around €160,000 per patient and according to the Government, it’s too expensive at this price.
Sufferers who have been taking the drug for three years as part of a trial have said that there is no doubt that the drug is life saving for some people, and without it they may not be here.
Vertex, the company that produces the drug, is a global biotechnology company. According to its website, it aims to discover, develop and commercialize innovative medicines so people with serious diseases can lead better lives. Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Mass. and headquartered in Boston’s Innovation District, Vertex today has research and development sites and commercial offices in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.
In addition to their clinical development programs focused on cystic fibrosis, Vertex has more than a dozen ongoing research programs aimed at other serious and life-threatening diseases.
They collaborate with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, leading non-profit disease foundations and many of the world’s best-known academic institutions.
In 2014 they had total revenues of $580 million, including net product revenues of $464 million for KALYDECO in cystic fibrosis, cash equivalents and marketable securities of approximately $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2014.
Their work with not-for-profit foundations and their desire to create life- saving medicine is admirable but it’s not worth a crap if the people that need it can’t afford it. Vertex is in business to make money and that’s fair enough. But does it really cost €160,000 per patient per year to produce this stuff?