Subsidy for cystic fibrosis Kalydeco approved by PBAC with conditions From new research questioning bed rest during pregnancy to a snack food that's as addictive as cocaine, WSJ Live finds the top five health stories of the year. Photos: AP, Getty Christmas wish realised ... Cystic fibrosis sufferer Amelia McCrohan with Santa. SIX year old Amelia McCrohan's one Christmas wish has been granted with a subsidy for a $300,000 medicine that could save her life approved. Two hundred Australians with cystic fibrosis will benefit from the decision but before they receive their Christmas gift the drug company Vertex Pharmaceuticals that makes Kalydeco must negotiate a more reasonable price for its lifesaving treatment. And federal Cabinet will have to approve funding for the medicine. Amelia's father Tom McCrohan said yesterday his family was "rejoicing like you could never believe" after fighting for almost a year to win public support for the subsidy. "It's a very happy Christmas," he said. Cystic Fibrosis Australia chief David Jack welcomed the decision but said there was still work to do before patients could use the medicine. A positive PBAC recommendation now allows Vertex and the Department of Health to negotiate a price agreement. We have every confidence that Vertex will continue to act in the best interests of the CF community and expedite negotiations required for a timely listing," he said. "To use a sporting analogy, while we have triumphed during the first half there is still another half to play before victory is celebrated," he said. He urged Vertex, the pharmaceutical company that makes Kalydeco, to put patients ahead of profits in its price negotiations with the government. And he said the government also needed to do the same and recognise that this was an important breakthrough treatment that should be funded. Around 200 Australians who have cystic fibrosis have the G551D gene mutation that can be treated by Kalydeco. Cystic fibrosis clogs the lungs and other bodily organs with a thick, sticky mucus and many sufferers will die in their forties. The government's Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee which decides which medicines deserve a subsidy said yesterday it agreed the 10 per cent improvement in lung function of patients using the drug was "clinically significant and important." It recommended Kalydeco be subsidised under the government's Highly Specialised Drugs Program for the treatment of cystic fibrosis in patients aged six years and older. It is one of the most expensive medicines ever approved for government subsidy and the PBAC wants a better deal on the price. Kalydeco was developed with funding from a cystic fibrosis charity in the United States and much of the basic research for the drug was performed in publicly funded institutions in the United States. Many prominent medicos have been critical of the high price the company is charging for the medicine because much of the research behind it was funded by charities or the public. Australia is one of the last developed nations to fund the drug.