FDA Approves ‘Breakthrough’ Cystic Fibrosis Therapy, Extending Treatment to 90 Percent of Patients

Seven-year-old sits in a chair with a doctor at the Loyola Oakbrook Medical Center in Illinois, in a file photo. Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week it had approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ three-drug combination which would treat 90 percent of patients with cystic fibrosis.

The approval of the drug, marketed as Trikafta, comes five months ahead of the agency’s previously announced action date, and greatly expands the percentage of cystic fibrosis patients that Vertex can treat.