{
  "id": 13164952,
  "title": "Vertex reports pancreatic function recovery in young CF patients",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/vertex-reports-pancreatic-function-recovery-in-young-cf-patients",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-09T17:20:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Investing.com",
    "slug": "investing-com",
    "url": "https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/vertex-reports-pancreatic-function-recovery-in-young-cf-patients-93CH-4941538"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported that some young cystic fibrosis patients experienced a recovery of pancreatic function after treatment with ALYFTREK, according to interim data presented at a conference. The study included 48 children aged 2 to 5 years, with 18 (37.5%) successfully discontinuing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) for an average of 8.6 weeks. An additional 7 participants had stopped PERT before the substudy. For the entire group of 66 children, 50% were not on PERT at the data cut. Pancreatic function, measured by fecal elastase-1 levels, increased by a mean of 110.2 μg/g from baseline, reaching 239.7 μg/g. Nearly half (48.6%) of children reached the pancreatic sufficiency threshold of ≥200 μg/g. Cystic fibrosis causes pancreatic exocrine insufficiency in nearly 90% of children within their first year of life, previously considered irreversible. Vertex's Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer emphasized the significance of these findings, highlighting a major shift in understanding the benefits of treating cystic fibrosis in its early stages. ALYFTREK, currently approved for patients 6 years and older with cystic fibrosis and at least one responsive CFTR gene variant, remains investigational for younger children. The company also shared additional abstracts on clinical and real-world evidence of CFTR modulators at the conference.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Young cystic fibrosis patients show pancreatic function recovery with ALYFTREK treatment.",
    "37.5% of children aged 2-5 discontinued PERT for 8.6 weeks on average.",
    "Pancreatic function increased by 110.2 μg/g, with 48.6% reaching sufficiency threshold."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}