NHS England response to Scottish decision to fund Orkambi

Last month the independent Scottish Medicines Consortium assessed that Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ (Nasdaq: VRTX) ‘justification of the treatment’s [Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and Symkevi (tezacaftor/ivacaftor)] costs in relation to its health benefits was not sufficient’ - meaning the company was charging an unreasonably high price for its product.

Vertex has rejected the health service’s offer, which would give access to the treatment for people with cystic fibrosis (CF), at a price assessed as appropriate for the clinical effectiveness of the medicine. It was the largest offer the NHS has ever made for a treatment of its kind.

Therefore it is regrettable that Vertex continues to choose not to engage with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) but invests energy into political lobbying instead, said NHS England, adding: This is clearly disappointing and we continue to work with the company on how we can make its treatments available.