Cystic Fibrosis drug has weekly sales of €460,000

Pharmaceuticals company Vertex had weekly sales in Ireland of almost €460,000 in 2015 for its cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco.

New accounts filed by the Irish-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals Ltd confirm that sales of the drug increased by 8% to €23.87m.

The accounts lodged with the Companies Office show that the business recorded an operating profit of €1.1m for the year.

In recent months, the US firm has been in the spotlight after drug advisors to the HSE recommended that it not make available Vertex’s new cystic fibrosis drug, called Orkambi, to patients.

Orkambi, which improves lung function and reduces hospitalisation for cystic fibrosis patients, would cost €160,000 per patient annually, or €400m for the health service over five years, according to its initial price.

The HSE had been willing to pay €75m which would make it the sixth most expensive drug used by the Irish health system.

The controversy around the drug resulted in cystic fibrosis patients and their families protesting outside the Dáil last month.

The new accounts show that the revenues at the Irish arm of Vertex plummeted by 86% from €273m to €37m in 2015.

The revenues were made up of €23.8m in Irish sales of Kalydeco and €13.74m from discontinued operations.

The drop in revenues was, however, due to a company reorganisation when it stopped selling Vertex products to the US. The accounts show that the firm had a gross profit of €820,000 in 2015 on the sale of its Kalydeco drug here as cost of sales came to over €23m.