Vertex Pharmaceuticals Gets 96% of Product Sales From Treatments for 1 Disease. Here’s Why That’s About to Change.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals‘ (NASDAQ: VRTX) stable of cystic fibrosis (CF) therapies is one of the biggest monopolies among biotech companies. The company was founded in 1989 and, after dabbling in infectious diseases, struck gold when it switched to genetic medicines.
Prior to Vertex’s innovations, CF care was focused on clearing lung mucus, preventing infections, and managing symptoms. Vertex pioneered CFTR modulators, small-molecule drugs that target the underlying genetic defects in the CFTR protein that can cause cystic fibrosis.
Its first CF drug was CFTR modulator Kalydeco, which received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2012. The company now has four CF therapies, led by the Trikafta/Kaftrio combination, which brought in $4.8 billion in sales through the first six months, and Alyftrek, which brought in $998 million through that period.
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