Patients as pawns

In an apparent game of chicken between Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and French health authorities over the price of the cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi, patients say the decision to use access to investigational therapies as a negotiation chip goes too far.

Orkambi ivacaftor/lumacaftor was approved in the EU in November 2015 to treat CF patients 12 or older who have two copies of the delta F508 mutation. Since then, the biotech has been locked in negotiations with France’s Comité Economique des Produits de Santé (CEPS) over the drug’s price. ...