Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Joshua S. Boger left Merck in 1989 to start Vertex and long served as its president, CEO and chairman. It was first based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.⁠[1]

It held an IPO at $9 per share in 1991. Its first product, the HIV protease inhibitor Agenerase, launched in May 1999. In 2001 it used nearly $600 million in stock to buy San Diego-based Aurora Biosciences.⁠[1]

In 2009, Matthew Emmens succeeded founder Josh Boger as chief executive. In December 2011, Emmens planned to step down early the next year after about three years in the job, with Jeffrey Leiden as his successor. The company had already agreed to move its headquarters to facilities yet to be built on Boston’s Fan Pier.⁠[2]

Incivek (telaprevir), an HCV protease inhibitor for adults with genotype 1 HCV infection, was approved in the United States and Canada in 2011. Its revenues declined after peaking in the fourth quarter of 2011, and the company reduced its promotion and support for the drug in 2013. The 2013 Form 10-K listed the principal executive offices at 50 Northern Avenue, Boston.⁠[3]

On January 31, 2012, Vertex announced FDA approval of Kalydeco (ivacaftor), described as the first medicine to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, for people ages 6 and older with at least one copy of the G551D mutation, about 1,200 people or 4% of those with CF in the United States. It was discovered in a collaboration with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics.⁠[4]

On September 11, 2013, S&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is a global index provider that compiles and licenses benchmark indices including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2012 by combining McGraw-Hill’s S&P index business with the Dow Jones Indexes business held by a joint venture of CME Group and Dow Jones, and it is now the index business division of S&P Global, which holds about 73% of the interest.Open the full entry announced that Vertex would join the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry after the close of trading on September 20, replacing Advanced Micro DevicesAMDAMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) is a publicly traded U.S. semiconductor company founded in 1969 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California; its stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker AMD. The company develops CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, adaptive systems-on-chip and related software, mainly for the data center, personal computer, gaming and embedded markets; its product brands include Ryzen, EPYC, Radeon and Instinct.Open the full entry together with Ametek, in the Health Care sector’s Biotechnology sub-industry.⁠[5]

In July 2015, the FDA approved Orkambi for people with CF ages 12 and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation, about 8,500 people or nearly one-third of the U.S. CF population. It was developed with clinical, scientific and funding support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.⁠[6]

In 2016, NICE ruled that Orkambi should not be available on the NHS because its cost was not justified by its benefits; Vertex had priced it at £104,000 per patient per year. After a three-year dispute, NHS England announced on October 24, 2019 a deal giving patients access to Orkambi, Symkevi and Kalydeco within 30 days, with Vertex providing all its data to NICE for an appraisal.⁠[7]

On July 25, 2019, Vertex announced that chief medical officer Reshma Kewalramani would succeed Jeffrey Leiden, CEO since 2012, on April 1, 2020, with Leiden to serve as chairman through March 2023. A 12-year AmgenAmgenAmgen Inc. is an American company that discovers, develops, manufactures and delivers innovative medicines. Incorporated in California in 1980, it has its principal executive offices in Thousand Oaks, and its common stock trades on The Nasdaq Global Select Market.Open the full entry veteran who joined Vertex in 2017, she was set to become the first female CEO of a top biotech.⁠[8]

On October 21, 2019, Vertex announced FDA approval of the triple-combination Trikafta (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) for people with CF ages 12 and older who have at least one F508del mutation. The company said it had the potential to treat up to 90% of all people with CF in the future.⁠[9]

Kewalramani became CEO in 2020. A graduate of Boston University’s combined undergraduate and medical program, she worked early on as a transplant nephrologist before joining Amgen, and joined Vertex in 2017 as chief medical officer. As of May 2026, she was the company’s CEO and president.⁠[10]

The U.K. MHRA granted conditional marketing authorization to Casgevy for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, the world’s first authorization of a CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy and the first product of a collaboration Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics began in 2015.⁠[11]

On December 8, 2023, the FDA approved Casgevy for sickle cell disease in patients 12 years and older, alongside bluebird bio’s gene therapy Lyfgenia. Kewalramani said Casgevy was “the first CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy to be approved in the US.”⁠[12]

On April 10, 2024, Vertex announced an agreement to acquire Alpine Immune Sciences for $65 per share in cash, valued at about $4.9 billion, gaining povetacicept, a dual BAFF/APRIL inhibitor for IgA nephropathy.⁠[13]

Vertex’s 2025 Form 10-K states that it acquired Alpine in 2024 for approximately $5.0 billion.⁠[14]

On January 30, 2025, Vertex announced FDA approval of Journavx (suzetrigine) for moderate-to-severe acute pain in adults. It is a non-opioid pain signal inhibitor that selectively targets NaV1.8 channels, which the company called the first new class of acute pain medication approved in over 20 years.⁠[15]

Total 2025 revenue was $12.0 billion, up 9%, and GAAP net income was $3,953.2 million. Trikafta/Kaftrio contributed $10,312.7 million; Alyftrek, approved in the U.S., EU and U.K. for people 6 and older, $837.8 million; Casgevy $116 million; and Journavx $59.6 million.⁠[16]

As of December 31, 2025, the company had approximately 6,400 employees, about 5,200 of them in the United States.⁠[14]

Second-quarter 2026 total revenue rose 12% to $3,333.9 million and GAAP net income was $1,099.8 million; Alyftrek revenue was $573.6 million, Casgevy $76.4 million and Journavx $49.6 million. The FDA accepted the povetacicept application for accelerated approval with a PDUFA target action date of November 30, 2026; it had not been approved.⁠[17]