Cystic fibrosis sufferers' average life expectancy has soared from 56 to 64 in just two years, thanks to wonder drugs the Daily Express helped secure on the NHS. After our campaign, NHS England and US drug giant Vertex agreed a long-term deal for their range of life-saving CF pills including Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio - but 10 per cent of sufferers with rare genes sadly cannot take them. Now as the Cystic Fibrosis Trust charity celebrates its 60th birthday it has hailed "amazing progress" for the 11,300 living with the genetic condition - where sticky mucus attacks the lungs and organs.
In 1997 the average life expectancy for CFers born that year was 31 and in 2010 it was 39 years - but in the last two years it has soared from 56 to 64, more than double that of 27 years ago. But far from complacent, the CF Trust's chief executive David Ramsden vowed at an anniversary event at London's Royal College of Physicians, to make sure every single UK sufferer now has access to life-changing medications. He said: "Our latest data shows the (CF patient population) is growing in size and the average age is growing and is continuing to get steadily older.
"The median predicted survival of someone born today is now 64 in the UK - we've had a big leap. This really does demonstrate the progress that's been made over those decades. "People with CF live with a 24 hour a day, 365 day-a-year life-limiting condition that impacts all their life choices.
"Too many struggle to get the support they.