This week we are looking back at some of our favourite episodes from 2019. The cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi could extend the lives of thousands of children – but it comes with a price tag of £105,000 per patient per year. In this episode from February, the health editor Sarah Boseley explored how the cost of a life-extending drug could be weighed next to a person’s life

This episode was first broadcast on 7 February 2019.

When Carlie Pleasant was nine, her parents were told she would not live beyond 15. Her diagnosis was cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that results in a build-up of mucus in the lungs, making it hard to breathe. Pleasant, who is now 29 with a husband and a son, lives in fear that cystic fibrosis will cut short her life.

But Pleasant has a genetic mutation that is targeted by Orkambi, a new type of drug that for the first time works on the underlying causes of the condition, rather than the symptoms. But it comes at a high price: £105,000 per patient per year.

India Rakusen heard from the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, on how the Boston-based pharmaceutical company Vertex explained the price – and how the discovery of the drug was partly funded by charities and British taxpayers.

This episode from February has been updated with a new interview with Carlie Pleasant.