Yukon to pay for teen's $350K cystic fibrosis drug
The Yukon Government is going to take over covering the cost of an expensive drug that has changed a young teenager's life.
“This is just fantastic, fantastic news,” says mother Heike Rueckenbach.
Thirteen-year-old Larissa Rueckenbach has a rare form of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that fills a person's lungs with mucus, affecting the ability to breathe.
She’s one of about 100 Canadians with the particular mutation of the disease that can be treated with a drug called Kalydeco. A prescription costs about $350,000 a year.
The company that makes the drug, Vertex Pharma, has been covering the cost of Larissa Rueckenbach's treatment since June, but its compassionate care program is temporary.
"We are really, really relieved because now we don't have to worry about what to do when the compassionate care program runs out,” her mother says.
Heike Rueckenbach says it took just four or five days to see changes in her daughter when she started taking the drug earlier this year. She was coughing less, had fewer stomach aches, and was able to brush her own hair, thanks to an improvement in joint stiffness.
“This is going to keep her going on the medication that she needs, and we don't have to worry about her getting off the medication and getting all sick again,” she said.
In June, the provinces and Vertex Pharma reached an agreement on the cost of covering Kalydeco. The negotiations took more than a year.
The government will start covering the cost of the drug in December.