Vertex Pharmaceuticals
American pharmaceutical company
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| January 2025 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals gained FDA approval for Journavx (suzetrigine), a groundbreaking non-opioid treatment for moderate to severe acute pain, marking the first new type of pain medicine approved in 25 years. |
| 2024 | Vertex achieved broad availability of CF medications in over 60 countries, with approximately two-thirds of diagnosed patients receiving treatment worldwide. |
| June 2024 | NICE and Vertex reached an agreement on acceptable pricing terms, extending the 2019 pricing deal to include Vertex's cystic fibrosis drugs and ensuring patient access to future license extensions. |
| April 2024 | Vertex agreed to acquire Alpine Immune Sciences, a Seattle-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, for $4.9 billion. |
| 2023 | Vertex secured reimbursement agreements for CF medicines in 36 countries, with 35 being high-income nations. At this time, approximately 51,322 CF patients were treated with Trikafta, with patient distribution at 49% in the U.S., 42% in Europe, and 9% in Canada, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| October 2023 | NICE initially declined to recommend Vertex's cystic fibrosis drugs Kaftrio, Symkevi, and Orkambi due to high costs beyond acceptable NHS resource limits. |
| July 2022 | Vertex announced the acquisition of ViaCyte, Inc. for $320 million. |
| June 30 2020 | Vertex and NHS expanded their agreement to include reimbursement of Kaftrio (marketed as Trikafta in the UK), making England one of the first European countries to fund the medication. |
| May 2020 | Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics' gene therapy CTX001 received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia and from the European Medicines Agency for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. |
| April 1 2020 | Reshma Kewalramani became president and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, replacing Jeffrey Leiden, who transitioned to executive chairman of the board. |
| 2019 | Vertex initiated a research collaboration with Arbor Biotechnologies to discover novel proteins for gene-editing therapies, focusing on cystic fibrosis and four other diseases, with potential milestone payments up to $1.2 billion. |
| October 2019 | Vertex achieved public funding for Cystic Fibrosis medicines in 17 countries, marking a significant milestone in global medication accessibility. |
| October 24 2019 | NHS England agreed to fund wider access to Vertex's cystic fibrosis medications, including Orkambi, Symkevi, and Kalydeco, finalizing a funding agreement after Vertex signed reimbursement deals in other regions like Scotland, Spain, and Australia. |
| October 22 2019 | The FDA approved Vertex's Triple-combo therapy Trikafta (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor) for patients 12 and older with at least one F508del mutation, covering approximately 90% of cystic fibrosis patients. |
| September 2019 | Vertex announced the acquisition of Semma Therapeutics for $950 million in cash, a company that developed an innovative implantable device for beta cell replacement. |
| June 2019 | Vertex announced the acquisition of Exonics Therapeutics for up to $1 billion and initiated a collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1. |
| March 2019 | Vertex was legally required to destroy 7,880 packs of Orkambi that reached their expiry dates during ongoing price negotiations with the NHS. |
| January 23 2019 | Ian Smith, the COO and interim CFO of Vertex, was terminated from his position for violating the company's code of conduct. |
| February 12 2018 | FDA approved the combination of tezacaftor and ivacaftor, marketed under the name Symdeko. |
| 2017 | The company reported clinical results showing benefits for patients with different mutations representing 90% of the cystic fibrosis population. |
| March 28 2017 | Vertex announced Phase 3 data from a dual combination treatment of tezacaftor plus ivacaftor for patients with cystic fibrosis. |
| 2016 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals began developing a new group of CFTR modulators in combination with tezacaftor and ivacaftor, targeting cystic fibrosis treatments. |
| 2016 | CEO Jeffrey Leiden's compensation was reduced to US$17.4 million as a result of shareholder intervention in the previous year. |
| 2016 | Vertex established a collaboration with Moderna to develop mRNA-based therapeutics for cystic fibrosis, paying $20M in cash upfront and providing an additional $20M convertible note, with potential milestone payments up to $275M. |
| 2015 | The annual price of Kalydeco increased to more than $300,000 per patient. |
| 2015 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals entered into a research collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop gene-editing therapies for genetic diseases. |
| 2015 | Vertex shareholders voted to reduce CEO compensation, signaling a response to potentially excessive executive earnings. |
| 2015 | FDA approved the combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor (marketed as Orkambi) to treat cystic fibrosis in patients 12 years and older with the F508del mutation. |
| April 15 2015 | Joan Finnegan Brooks of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation spoke about Vertex and venture philanthropy at a panel of biotech leaders hosted by Life Sciences Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, highlighting patient access and medication cost issues. |
| 2014 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals discontinued the drug telaprevir, a protease inhibitor used for hepatitis C treatment. |
| 2014 | CEO Jeffrey Leiden's annual compensation was reported to be approximately US$48.5 million, highlighting the company's high executive pay during this period. |
| 2014 | The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation sold the rights to the royalties of Kalydeco drugs for $3.3 billion, which was twenty times the foundation's 2013 budget. |
| November 5 2014 | Vertex submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for a co-formulated combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor for people with cystic fibrosis aged 12 and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation. |
| January 2014 | Vertex completed its move from Cambridge to Boston, relocating to a new $800 million complex on the South Boston waterfront, allowing all Boston-area employees to work together for the first time. |
| 2012 | Vertex completed initial research on combining ivacaftor with lumacaftor for the most common cystic fibrosis mutation (F508del), after 13 years of research and development supported by $70 million from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. |
| January 31 2012 | Vertex gained FDA approval for Kalydeco, the first drug to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis in patients 6 years or older with the G551D gene mutation. |
| May 2011 | The FDA approved telaprevir (Incivek), an oral treatment for hepatitis C, with development and commercialization shared between Vertex, Johnson & Johnson (for European distribution), and Mitsubishi (for Asian distribution). |
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