'Price would have to fall five-fold' for HSE to afford Cystic Fibrosis drug Orkambi

There are calls for the company behind a Cystic Fibrosis drug to put their patients before profits.

It emerged at the weekend that the HSE views the drug Orkambi, which is manufactured by Vertex, as "unjustifiably expensive".

Campaigners claim the drug slows the progression of CF and can cut the rate of hospitalisation for sufferers.

Professor Michael Barry of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, which told the HSE not to fund Orkambi, says its time for the manufacturer to bring down its costs.

Prof. Barry said: "The price would have to fall five-fold to approximately €30,000 per patient per year to ensure that we were getting value for money.

"Certainly over the last few months the HSE Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit has been negotiating extensively with the company to try and ensure that we get the drug available for our patients but also that we get value for money."