Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is Featured in The New Yorker

April 30, 2009

The May 4th issue of The New Yorker magazine—on newsstands now—features a major story about the efforts to cure cystic fibrosis. The story— “Open Channels”— focuses exclusively on drugs in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s pipeline that show promise in treating the underlying defect in cystic fibrosis. The New Yorker is considered one of the most prestigious publications in the country and has a circulation of more than 1 million readers.

The story describes the experiences of CF patients who participated in clinical trials of key therapies, including VX-770 , PTC124 and denufosol. “All the physicians and scientists I talked to who are working on the (CF) experimental agents emphasized the many unknown variables, but for the first time, there is convincing evidence that the underlying defect in cystic fibrosis can be corrected,” says Dr. Jerome Groopman, author of the article.

“These drugs are absolutely for real,” adds Dr. Susanna McColley, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "It’s very striking for example, that with the Vertex drug (VX-770) patients showed dramatic improvement and when it was stopped, their lung function dropped back down.” She notes that experts never expected a patient with already damaged lung function would be capable of improvement with such treatments.

Read more about CFF in the news.