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Drug combo helps people with common cystic fibrosis

A combination of two drugs has shown promise toward improving the health of people with the most common form of the incurable lung disease known as cystic fibrosis, researchers said Sunday. Patients treated with two medications — lumacaftor and ivacaftor — saw “significant” gains in their ability to breathe and fewer lung infections than those taking a placebo, according to the results of two international clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The randomized controlled trials included 1,108 people, age 12 and older, who were treated for six months. “These groundbreaking findings will benefit around 15,000 patients in US alone,” said Susanna McColley, one of the study's authors and a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.