Vertex proposal provides hope of breaking CF impasse

Vertex plans to propose providing immediate access to its products to England’s cystic fibrosis patients while it negotiates reimbursement with the U.K. government.

Chairman, President and CEO Jeffrey Leiden told MPs that in his meeting on Monday with U.K. Health Secretary Matthew Hancock, he will propose a deal similar to what Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) has agreed with Scotland even as the company and NHS England continued to insist at a Parliamentary hearing Thursday that neither can accept the other’s existing offer for reimbursement of CF drug Orkambi lumacaftor/ivacaftor...