as nasdaq vrtx industry pharmaceuticals & biotherapeutics 1 founded 1989 headquarters boston massachusetts key people jeffrey leiden m.d. ph.d. chair president and ceo stuart a. arbuckle executive vice president and chief commercial officer kenneth l. horton executive vice president and chief legal officer lisa kelly croswell senior vice president human resources peter mueller ph.d. executive vice president global research and development and chief scientific officer megan pace senior vice president corporate communications amit k. sachdev senior vice president corporate affairs and public policy ian f. smith executive vice president and chief financial officer products product pipeline revenue us 1.4 billion 2011 website www.vrtx.com vertex pharmaceuticals is an american pharmaceutical company based in boston massachusetts . vertex was founded in 1989 by joshua boger 2 and kevin j. kinsella . 3 vertex was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry . by 2004 its product pipeline focused on viral infections inflammatory and autoimmune disorders and cancer . it maintains headquarters in south boston massachusetts and two research facilities in san diego california and oxford england . the company s beginnings were profiled by barry werth in the 1994 book the billion dollar molecule 3 and its further development in his 2014 book the antidote inside the world of new pharma . 4 in 2009 the company had about 1 800 employees including 1 200 in the boston area . 2 in january 2014 vertex completed its move from cambridge massachusetts to boston massachusetts and took residence in a new 800 million complex . located on the south boston waterfront it will mark the first time in the company s history that all of the roughly 1 200 vertex employees in the greater boston area will be working together . since late 2011 when jeffrey m. leiden joined vertex as ceo vertex has ranked among the top 15 best performing companies on the standard & poor s 500 . vertex shares increased 250 percent in the same period . 5 vertex posted only one annual profit since it was founded in 1989 . 5 contents 1 telaprevir 2 cystic fibrosis 2.1 ivacaftor 2.2 mrna therapeutics 3 venture philanthropy 4 see also 5 references telaprevir edit in may 2011 the food and drug administration fda approved the drug telaprevir incivek an oral treatment for hepatitis c marketed by vertex . development and commercialization of telaprevir is shared with johnson & johnson for european distribution and mitsubishi for asia . telaprevir is a protease inhibitor . 6 cystic fibrosis edit ivacaftor edit in 2012 ivacaftor trade name kalydeco was designated as an orphan drug identifying cystic fibrosis as affecting fewer than 200 000 people in the united states . on january 31 2012 vertex gained fda approval 7 of the first drug kalydeco 8 to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than the symptoms in patients 6 years or older who have the g551d gene mutation . in the us 30 000 people have cystic fibrosis . about 4 % of those or 1 200 have the g551d gene mutation . vertex is marketing the drug at 307 000 a year per patient . 9 vertex also is studying ivacaftor in combination with another drug lumacaftor 10 for the most common mutation in cf known as f508del and expects the first set of results in 2012 . vertex worked for 13 years with the cystic fibrosis foundation to develop the drug . 11 in the uk the company provided the drug free for a limited time for certain patients then left the hospitals to decide whether to continue to pay for it for those patients . uk agencies estimated the cost per quality adjusted life year qaly at between 335 000 and 1 274 000 far above the nice thresholds 12 of 20 000 30 000 . on november 5 2014 vertex announced the submission of a new drug application nda to the fda for a fully co formulated combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor for people with cystic fibrosis ages 12 and older who have two copies of the f508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator cftr gene . 13 mrna therapeutics edit in 2016 the company entered into a collaboration with moderna in fact taking an ownership stake in the company to develop new mrna based therapeutics to treat cf. 14 venture philanthropy edit in the late 1990s the bethesda based cystic fibrosis foundation encouraged by then president robert beall began investing in vertex when it was a small start up biotechnology company to help fund the development of kalydeco in the form of venture philanthropy . the total investment amounted to 150 million . 15 in 2014 the cf foundation sold the rights to the royalties of the drugs for 3.3 billion twenty times the foundation s 2013 budget . 15 16 by 2015 the annual cost of kalydeco had risen to more than 300 000 per patient . 17 according to an article published in the milwaukee journal sentinel vertex executives grossed more than 100 million by cashing in stocks and stock options and at one point the value of company s stock increased more 6 billion in a single day . 18 twenty nine physicians and scientists working with people with cystic fibrosis cf wrote to jeff leiden ceo of vertex pharmaceuticals to plead for lower prices . 19 we are aware of the financial complexities of the huge expenses for r & d with respect to the small number of patients or the market system that enables these advances to become reality . yet notwithstanding all your patient support programs it is at best unseemly for vertex to charge our patients insurance plans including strapped state medical assistance plans 294 000 annually for two pills a day a 10 fold increase in a typical patient s total drug costs . this action could appear to be leveraging pain and suffering into huge financial gain for speculators some of whom were your top executives who reportedly made millions of dollars in a single day boston globe may 29 . david m. orenstein md et al. the company responded in an email that while publicly funded academic research provided important early understanding of the cause of cystic fibrosis it took vertex scientists 14 years of their own research funded mostly by the company before the drug won approval . 18 on april 15 2015 in cambridge ma joan finnegan brooks of the cystic fibrosis foundation spoke about the role of vertex and venture philanthropy to a panel of biotech leaders hosted by life sciences foundation on the topic of patient advocacy in the biotech industry . 20 while brooks who has cystic fibrosis expressed gratitude for vertex development of kalydeco she observed that 25 % of cystic fibrosis patients are not getting the medical care they need because of the prohibitive cost of the drug . 20 see also edit companies portal cystic fibrosis foundation telaprevir references edit vertex pharmaceuticals incorporated . hoover s. retrieved 24 june 2012 . a b weisman robert 24 april 2011 . rearranging the corporate dna . boston sunday globe . p. g1 . retrieved 25 june 2012 . a b werth barry 1994 . the billion dollar molecule one company s quest for the perfect drug . new york simon & schuster . isbn 0671510576 . oclc 32047662 . the billion dollar molecule at google books . werth barry 2014 . the antidote inside the world of new pharma . new york simon & schuster . isbn 9781451655667 . oclc 859375019 . a b robert weisman 17 april 2015 vertex chief s compensation totaled 36.6 million last year total included a retention bonus boston globe retrieved 19 july 2015 approval of incivek telaprevir a direct acting antiviral drug daa to treat hepatitis c hcv press release . food and drug administration . 24 may 2011 . retrieved 25 june 2012 . fda approves kalydeco to treat rare form of cystic fibrosis press release . food and drug administration . 31 january 2011 . retrieved 24 june 2012 . kalydeco ivacaftor tablets . vertex pharmaceuticals . retrieved 24 june 2012 . kalydeco a price too high to pay . vx 809 cystic fibrosis . vertex pharmaceuticals . 7 september 2011 . retrieved 24 june 2012 . edney anna 2 february 2012 . vertex wins approval for kalydeco to treat cystic fibrosis . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved 24 june 2012 . deborah cohen ; james raftery 12 february 2014 . orphan drugs paying twice questions over high cost of cystic fibrosis drug developed with charitable funding . bmj . 348 g1445 . doi 10.1136 bmj.g1445 . http investors.vrtx.com releasedetail.cfm releaseid 880537 vertex moderna launch cystic fibrosis collaboration . news discovery & development . genetic engineering & biotechnology news paper . 36 14 17 . august 2016 . a b andrew pollack november 19 2014 deal by cystic fibrosis foundation raises cash and some concern new york times retrieved july 19 2015 joseph walker ; jonathan d. rockoff november 19 2014 cystic fibrosis foundation sells drug s rights for 3.3 billion the biggest royalty purchase ever reflects group s share of kalydeco sales wall street journal retrieved july 19 2015 brady dennis 2 july 2015 are risks worth the rewards when nonprofits act like venture capitalists washington post retrieved 19 july 2015 a b john fauber may 19 2013 . cystic fibrosis charity and industry partner for profit . medpage today milwaukee journal sentinel . retrieved july 19 2015 . david m. orenstein ; paul m. quinton ; brian p. o sullivan ; carlos e. milla ; mark pian ; et al. 9 july 2012 letter to jeff leiden ceo of vertex pharmaceuticals pdf retrieved 19 july 2015 a b voices carry how history informs patient advocacy in the biotech industry life sciences foundation cambridge massachusetts april 15 2015 retrieved july 19 2015 annual report . vertex pharmaceuticals . 15 march 2004 . retrieved 24 june 2012 . vertex completes new drug application for telaprevir for hepatitis c press release . vertex pharmaceuticals . 23 november 2010 . retrieved 24 june 2012 . v t e pharmaceutical companies of the united states abbott laboratories acorda therapeutics actavis aderis pharmaceuticals adolor corporation alcon alexion pharmaceuticals alkermes allergan alza amgen amylin pharmaceuticals ariad pharmaceuticals aryx therapeutics avax technologies baxter international biocryst pharmaceuticals biogen biolex biovest biovista bradley pharmaceuticals bristol myers squibb cancervax century pharmaceuticals cephalon ceragenix pharmaceuticals combe incorporated cortex pharmaceuticals cotherix covance covidien cubist pharmaceuticals cutter laboratories cytosport cytrx danco laboratories dnaprint genomics epix pharmaceuticals eli lilly and company elorac endo pharmaceuticals ethicon endo surgery ethicon inc. forest laboratories galena biopharma genvec genentech genta gilead sciences hospira imclone systems institute for oneworld health intercept pharmaceuticals ista pharmaceuticals ivax corporation janssen biotech johnson & johnson kinetic concepts king pharmaceuticals kinray kv pharmaceutical leiner health products mallinckrodt martek biosciences corporation s. e. massengill company mckesson corporation mcneil laboratories melior discovery mentholatum merck & co. miles laboratories mylan myriad genetics naurex nereus pharmaceuticals northwest biotherapeutics norwich pharma services novabay pharmaceuticals nuvelo organon international ortho pharmaceutical ortho mcneil pharmaceutical osi pharmaceuticals ovation pharmaceuticals par pharmaceutical parke davis perrigo pfizer pharmaceutical product development prasco laboratories procter & gamble proteon therapeutics purdue pharma qualitest quark pharmaceuticals regeneron repros therapeutics rib x pharmaceuticals sarepta therapeutics savage laboratories schering plough g. d. searle & company sheffield pharmaceuticals smith kline & french spectrum pharmaceuticals sterling drug tanox tap pharmaceutical products tec laboratories teva pharmaceutical industries tiens biotech group titan pharmaceuticals trevena inc trubion upjohn upsher smith laboratories valeant pharmaceuticals ventria bioscience vertex pharmaceuticals verus pharmaceuticals vion pharmaceuticals inc. viropharma west pharmaceutical services wyeth zonite products corporation list of pharmaceutical companies v t e companies of the nasdaq 100 index 21st century fox activision blizzard adobe systems akamai technologies alexion pharmaceuticals alphabet amazon.com american airlines group amgen analog devices apple applied materials autodesk automatic data processing baidu bed bath & beyond biogen biomarin