Target: Mutation

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved "the first therapy to treat an underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, a pill that targets a genetic mutation affecting a small minority of patients suffering from the life-threatening breathing disorder," The Wall Street Journal reports. Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Kalydeco targets G551D, a mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CFTR, gene. FDA approved the drug to treat the approximately 4 percent of cystic fibrosis patients who have the G551D mutation, WSJ reports, adding that Kalydeco "will be among the most expensive therapies on the market, costing $294,000 a year."