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Cystic fibrosis treatment has been in the news recently with the battle to get Orkambi and Symkevi licensed on the NHS. But life changing drugs are not a cure.
Around 1 in 25 people carry the cystic fibrosis gene and 10,500 people have the condition in the UK alone. Thousands living with the condition will have ongoing health issues in the future. Infections that can lead to hospitalisation, resistance to antibiotics and a higher risk of developing cancer.
The SMC and Cystic Fibrosis Trust have brought together a panel of leading experts to discuss the challenges, many of which apply to other diseases, including developing new drugs, genome editing, anti-microbial resistance, and how research will help tackle the issues facing the disease.
Speakers included:
Prof Jane Davies, Professor of Paediatric Respirology and Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, and consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital
Dr Patrick Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physiology, University College Cork
Prof Andres Floto, Professor of Respiratory Biology at the University of Cambridge, and Research Director of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection at the Royal Papworth Hospital
Dr Paula Sommer, Head of Research at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust