BBC Two – Newsnight, Drugs Buyers' Club: Scotland's "Dramatic" Drugs Agreement



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The Scottish government has reached an agreement with a pharmaceutical company to provide Scottish patients with two essential medicines for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF).

A five-year agreement has been reached with the Vertex pharmaceutical company for the use of Orkambi and Symkevi. Medicines improve lung health, but their use of the NHS is denied in August 2019 because they are not considered profitable.

The drug normally costs £ 100,000 per patient per year. The Scottish Government has stated that it has obtained a "confidential rebate" from the manufacturer.

Patients from other parts of the UK are still not able to access treatment, as activists claim the end of the "lottery by zip code".

In June, Deborah Cohen met with patients and their parents who were banding together to import generic copies of cystic fibrosis medications. In this report, Deborah talks to parents who traveled 7,000 km in Argentina to buy a cheaper version of the drug.

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