An agreement between Vertex and NHS England secures rapid access to Kaftrio, the company’s triple therapy for cystic fibrosis, including for patients with rare mutations not covered by the soon-to-be-granted European marketing authorization. The final price will depend on an assessment by health technology appraisal body NICE.

Public health advocates say that commercial concerns must take a back seat to health interests if COVID-19 technologies are to be made available to those who need them. But industry says that relaxing IP protections is not the solution and that many companies have already invested significant amounts of money in potential new treatments and vaccines.

Recommending new medicines for approval and allowing sponsors of others extra time to answer outstanding questions are among the many tasks on the agenda of the March meeting of European Medicines Agency's key scientific committee, the CHMP. The meeting has been taking place, remotely, this week.