Vertex’s triple therapy will reshape the landscape of cystic fibrosis trials

FDA approval of Vertex’s long-awaited triple therapy for cystic fibrosis is likely to seal the company’s dominance in the indication for years to come, with competitive threats barely touching the horizon. Moreover, uptake of the triple therapy will make designing and enrolling future trials much harder.

The best plays left for competitors are to focus on the 10% of patients not treated by approved drugs, all of which Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX) has brought to the scene, or to upstage the small molecules with new modalities like mRNA or one-and-done curative approaches...