HENRY FOWLER, assistant general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), reports on Day 2 from the GFTU’s residential Summer School at the Workers’ Retreat, Quorn Grange Hotel
AFTER a long and fraught four years, an agreement between Pharma company Vertex and the NHS has finally resulted in Orkambi and Symkevi, the “game-changing” cystic fibrosis drugs, being made available on the NHS.
Vertex were originally asking £100,000 per patient, per year for Orkambi, which the NHS couldn’t afford, resulting in a protracted price negotiation that above anything else illustrates a system which requires fundamental change.
This conflict between private companies and their need to give returns to their shareholders operating in the medical arena where much more is at stake was highlighted by Just Treatment patient leader Emily Birchall who said: “This is absolutely brilliant news for patients and for all the families who have fought so hard to access Orkambi and other medicines for cystic fibrosis over the last four years.
CLAUDIA WEBBE says the horrific price British patients will pay for this NHS deal is now clear — and there’s time to get out of it, if MPs will only force the issue
Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS


