Drug Trio Could Give Patients With Cystic Fibrosis a New Option

FRIDAY, Nov. 1, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- A three-drug combo that significantly improves lung function in cystic fibrosis patients could benefit 90% of people with the life-threatening disease, a new study suggests.

It included patients with a single copy of the most common genetic mutation for the disease.

Results of the international phase 3 clinical trial led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the therapy last month. The findings were published Oct. 31 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"This should be a major cause for celebration," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, wrote in an editorial accompanying the new study.