I MUST MOVE BACK TO SCOTLAND TO GET LIFE-SAVING MEDICINE

A CYSTIC fibrosis sufferer who moved from Scotland has cursed her timing – as patients there can get the drugs that could save her life.

Naomi Moore, 25, spent five years north of the border but last year decided to return to her family home in Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The Scottish government agreed a deal with US pharmaceutical firm Vertex for their CF drugs Orkambi and Symkevi.

Fears

Vertex’s talks with the NHS in Wales, England and Northern Ireland have stalled so their CF sufferers have no medicine access

Naomi fears she may have to return to Glasgow just to obtain Symkevi that could add decades to her life.

She said: “I moved back to Northern Ireland in July last year as I wanted to work and have a family here.

“I was delighted to see CF sufferers in Scotland, some of whom I know, secure a deal for lifesaving drugs. But it is excruciating knowing that if I had stayed in Glasgow for another year I would have them too.

“It is tougher for us in Northern Ireland as they have the drugs in Republic of Ireland. It is a postcode lottery in the UK for CF. It is ridiculous.”

CF is a genetic condition that clogs the lungs and digestive system with mucus, shortening a sufferer’s life to an average age of just 31.

Almost 500 children and young people have it in Northern Ireland and around half could benefit from Orkambi or its variant drug Symkevi.

Ironically, Vertex’s drugs for their European market are actually made in Co Armagh.

Naomi added: “We are stuck with a health border in our way.

“It feels like if I crossed the sea or the border I could get this lifesaving drug.

“I know friends who were very poorly and given Vertex drugs. Their improvement has been astonishing so these medicines do really work.

“It’s devastating not having them here.”