Dear Shareholders,

Vertex is targeting some of the world’s most devastating diseases in new and unconventional ways. Our work is difficult, expensive and takes years to complete, but the results could have a profound impact on human health worldwide. The challenge of generating and bringing true medical breakthroughs to the marketplace is exhilarating, and it drives our people and our culture.

Vertex’s pipeline contains a number of investigational drugs that could fundamentally change how some serious diseases are treated. These drug candidates include oral compounds targeting the basic biochemical defects responsible for cystic fibrosis, a potential new treatment for inflammatory diseases that suppresses the immune response in a novel, highly selective way, and other compounds targeting new disease mechanisms - all real innovations and potentially major leaps in treatment.

Today, however, no drug in our pipeline commands more attention than our hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, telaprevir. And for good reason. Unprecedented results presented for telaprevir have begun to change conventional thinking around hepatitis C treatment. The idea that shortened HCV therapy could significantly increase cure rates for patients is now more possible than ever before.

Earlier this year, we initiated the Phase 3 ADVANCE clinical trial of telaprevir designed to confirm the encouraging Phase 2 results presented to date for telaprevir. We continue to invest to build the capabilities needed to fully realize this unique, first-to-market opportunity. We have assembled a global supply chain to manufacture telaprevir, and we have begun to build the infrastructure to support what we believe could be a significant commercial launch. We also aim to follow the success of telaprevir with second-generation compounds that can extend and enhance our leadership position in HCV.

We seek to make profound changes with our innovations. It’s an approach that is helping us to build a new type of pharmaceutical company. That’s our goal, and we’re on our way. I look forward to updating you as the year progresses.

I thank you for your continued support of Vertex.