Cystic Fibrosis Might Be 2 Diseases

[enniob]

A must read for all: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cystic-fibrosis-might-be-2-diseases/

Drugs that help cystic fibrosis patients may also relieve this form of pancreatitis. If the number of patients with the syndrome turns out to be large—Whitcomb suspects it is more than the number with classic cystic fibrosis—then the market for those drugs will grow, and the drugs themselves could become more affordable. The cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco, for example, currently costs more than $300,000 per year.

What could be interesting moving forward in the drug development field for CF is that Lung CF is only half (or much less!) of the story for Pharma incentive into this "rare disease" market. The pancreatic manifestations of CF could be the key to help reduce cost of CF drugs for insurers and patients and up the market size for pharma to invest and push the development of better and/or new drugs. However, drug development and market uptake (FDA/Insurers/Providers) is slow...

Definitely an interesting space to watch over the coming years.

What do you think?