Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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The fight for the game-changing cystic fibrosis drug, Orkambi
In just 10 days 114,000 people signed a petition demanding the government fund Orkambi, a drug for the treatment of cystic fibrosis — but the disgracefully high cost is keeping it out of the reach of the NHS, writes RUTH HUNT
Campaigners stage a protest outside Downing Street in central London, as part of a national campaign over the lack of availability of the cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi, in June 2017
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
IN 2016, when the European Medicines Agency approved Orkambi — a precision drug produced by pharmaceutical company, Vertex, which would help the 50 per cent of those with cystic fibrosis who have two copies of the F508 del mutation, it gave hope to the whole community, not just for this drug, but also for drugs in the pipeline that could help as many as 90 per cent of those with cystic fibrosis.
There was no doubt Orkambi was a game-changer. It effectively slows down the deterioration in lung function by up to 42 per cent and cuts admission to hospital due to infections by up to 61 per cent.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) called it “important and effective” and approved it for use among “compassionate cases” where lung function had already deteriorated below 40 per cent.
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