Ivacaftor, a CFTR potentiator, improves the transport of chloride through the ion channel by binding to the channels directly to induce a non-conventional mode of gating which in turn increases the probability that the channel is open.
There was negligible urinary excretion of ivacaftor as unchanged parent. The apparent terminal half-life was approximately 12 hours following a single dose in the fed state. The apparent clearance (CL/F) of ivacaftor was similar for healthy subjects and patients with CF. The mean (±SD) of CL/F for the 150 mg dose was 17.3 (8.4) L/h in healthy subjects at steady state. Society and culture
Legal status
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ivacaftor in January 2012, and soon afterwards so too did the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Canada and across some European countries.Lumacaftor/ivacaftor was approved by the FDA in July 2015, under breakthrough therapy status and under a priority review. Economics
The cost of ivacaftor is US$311,000 per year, roughly similar to the price of other medications for extremely rare diseases. In the first nine months of its second year on the market (2014), ivacaftor sales were $339M, representing 54% of Vertexs product sales revenue. During the same period, total drug development expenses were $458M, most of which was spent on cystic fibrosis-related research.An editorial in JAMA called the price of ivacaftor "exorbitant", citing the support by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in its development and the contribution made by fundamental scientific research performed by the National Institutes of Health and relied upon by Vertex in its cystic fibrosis drug discovery programs.