Spotlight recently reported on a court case aimed at expanding access to breakthrough new treatments for cystic fibrosis and on how this debilitating disease is diagnosed in South Africa. Now, in Part 3 of this special series, Catherine Tomlinson turns the spotlight on how the disease is being.
New treatments for cystic fibrosis that dramatically improve the prognosis for sufferers have been developed. They are expensive, however, and patents granted to Vertex, the US company that makes them, block any other companies from supplying the medicines to CF patients in the country. Cheri N.
When Seshagiri Buddana learned of a powerful new cystic fibrosis drug that was transforming lives in the United States and Europe, he was filled with hope that it could help his son, Hemanth, who had spent much of his childhood in a hospital bed. But the family couldn't get the drug because they live in India.