Vertex issues scathing rebuke to Parliament as longstanding NHS conflict roils on

More than two years since the National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) ruled that Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: VRTX) cystic fibrosis therapy Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) was too expensive to be issued through the National Health Service (NHS), the US firm has hit out at Parliament and NHS executives over delays.

Orkambi, the first drug directed at treating the cause of the disease in people who have two copies of the F508del mutation, accounting for around 45% of cases.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Vertex excoriated the UK's cost watchdog for undervaluing its portfolio of cystic fibrosis therapies by as much as 90%, a fee which they said would not enable them to refocus on R&D for next-generation therapies.