‘We were sitting with our calculator saying “we can afford that!”’ Joy for families as cystic fibrosis drug prices fall within reach

The cost of medication was too high for thousands of CF sufferers around the world. Now a Bangladeshi company is making a generic version that will change lives

Seven-year-old Grant Leitch had an important question for his mother. He asked if his little brother, Brett, who has cystic fibrosis (CF), was going to die.

The South African family, like tens of thousands around the world, have been priced out of access to modern cystic fibrosis therapies, and if Grant had asked at the start of 2025, he might have received a less optimistic answer.

But as the new year begins Carmen Leitch has fresh hope to offer her sons. A “revolutionary” treatment sold by pharmaceutical company Vertex for $370,000 (£274,000) a year will be available for as little as $2,000 a year from a generic manufacturer.

The 99.5% reduction in price is the result of years of parent-led campaigning.