News

Health Canada has approved the use of Kalydeco (ivacaftor) in toddlers age 1-2 years with certain genetic mutations that prevent the correct functioning of the CFTR protein, the therapy’s developer announced. With a pill taken twice a day, Kalydeco, by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, makes it possible to resolve the underlying…

The Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union granted €6.8 million (approximately $7.7 million) to an international research team for the development of non-viral gene delivery technology. This new gene therapy strategy has the potential to improve the health of patients with genetic diseases worldwide, including…

The European Commission has approved the label extension of Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) for the treatment of children ages 2-5 with cystic fibrosis (CF) due to F508del mutations, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the therapy’s manufacturer, announced. Orkambi was previously approved in Europe to treat CF patients 6 and older with the…

Florida resident Megan Willis has cystic fibrosis (CF), and she’s not getting better. But that didn’t stop authorities last March from deciding otherwise, and denying her access to Medicaid — which for years had been paying her more than $100,000 in annual healthcare expenses. “My health has only gotten worse…

Sound Pharmaceuticals (SPI) has enrolled its first-patient-in — meaning the first subject meeting the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of a clinical study — in a Phase 2 trial testing SPI-1005 for the prevention and treatment of tobramycin-induced ototoxicity in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the company announced. Tobramycin…