Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company that has taken out several federal patents on Alyftrek, a proprietary mix of vanzacaftor, tezacaftor, and deutivacaftor, which is the most effective known treatment for cystic fibrosis. These patents mean that Vertex is the only corporation with the rights to manufacture, market, and sell this treatment.

It currently costs about $30,000 dollars for about 2 months of Alyftrek. The treatment is lifelong. The United States government has given Vertex pharmaceuticals permission to charge $15,000 a month for a drug whose patients have no other option. This is not ethical.

Babies born and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 2010 had a median projected lifespan of about forty years. Today, that number is more like 65. Treatments like Alyftrek are literally giving people decades of life that would not have been possible even a decade or two ago. This is great news for CF patients—but to claim those years of their lives that are now possible, they must relinquish $15,000 a month to Vertex Pharmaceuticals. This means CF patients’ families are presented with a choice between treatment and financial stability. For some, the cost is just too high to choose.

The cost of this drug is artificially inflated by the patent monopoly granted to Vertex. Scientists in the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis found that the cost of production for CFTR modulators, the class of medicine Alyftrek belongs to, was 90% lower than the market cost for patients. Without the patent protections, generic brands and competitors would drive the cost of this medicine to a point that it is feasible for all patients families to choose the best options for them. These extended patents are not about discovery. They are about monopoly. They allow Vertex to extract massive profits while families struggle to afford the only medication proven to significantly slow the progression of CF.

We can do better than this. We must.

We are calling on federal lawmakers, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the Department of Health and Human Services to challenge these extended patents, investigate the anti-competitive barriers Vertex has created, and take steps to allow generic manufacturers to produce affordable alternatives.

Releasing Alyftrek’s patent protections would:

·       Reduce the cost of treatment dramatically

·       Expand access to patients who are currently priced out

·       Prevent rationing and insurance denials

·       Re-align drug policy with its ethical purpose: to save lives, not to maximize profit

Patients with cystic fibrosis deserve a healthcare system that works to treat their illnesses, not to generate maximum quarterly earnings for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Sign this petition to demand the release of Alyftrek’s patents and an end to their monopoly on lifesaving cystic fibrosis treatments. Medicine is meant to help, but Vertex is perversely using it for personal benefit.