Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., maker of the cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco, has announced the promising results of a phase 2 study it has been conducting on the combination of Kalydeco and VX-661. Patients with two copies of the F508del mutation, after taking the combination, showed an increase in lung function after 28 days.
Kalydeco, approved last year, is the first medicine to target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis; it is approved for patients with the G551D mutation, which accounts for about 4% of the cystic fibrosis population. Combining other drugs with Kalydeco may open up the treatment to a broader portion of the population.
To learn more about the study please see the original Vertex press release.