Piper Jaffray analyst Edward Tenthoff noted that the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, has announced its intent not to cover Orkambi, but he views the guidance as "simply the latest phase" of the negotiation for reimbursement coverage. The analyst added that if the board's final guidance, potentially in July, is still negative, it will have no impact to his 2016 estimates for Vertex, which do not include U.K. sales. The firm keeps an Overweight rating and $131 price target on Vertex shares.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and TreeFrog Therapeutics announced that Vertex has obtained an exclusive license to TreeFrog's proprietary cell manufacturing technology, C-Stem, to optimize production of Vertex's cell therapies for type 1 diabetes, or T1D. TreeFrog and Vertex will collaborate to scale-up TreeFrog's process to produce and amplify cells for Vertex's T1D therapies. TreeFrog's proprietary technology platform, C-Stem, is designed to mimic the natural microenvironment, allowing cells to grow exponentially in 3D. The technology will enhance Vertex's ability to generate large amounts of fully differentiated cells for its portfolio of T1D cell therapies.