Parents' agonising wait to see if baby gets wonder drug

“We're devastated. We feel Erin is being robbed of her future’

- Chris Riches

THE parents of a baby girl with cystic fibrosis are waiting for NHS drug chiefs to decide if she will have life-saving wonder pill Kaftrio.

Seven-month-old Erin Harrigan could miss out after a review found drug maker Vertex's medication was too costly for new patients.

She is too young to start taking Kaftrio now, described as "almost a cure" for the genetic condition.

But her devastated parents Claire, 38, and James Harrigan, 39, of Bromsgrove, Worcs, told the Daily Express they face an anxious wait for a decision in the New Year over whether she will ever get the drug.

Over the past four years the UK's 11,000 CF patients have had access to a range of life-saving drugs by US firm Vertex - including Kaftrio - that extend life and help stop the lungs clogging up with sticky mucus.