Author contributions: O.F. Bayomy, K.J. Ramos and C.H. Goss conceived and drafted the manuscript. All authors reviewed, revised and approved the final version submitted for publication and agree to be accountable for the work. Conflict of interest: K.J. Ramos reports grants from National Institutes of Health, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and CHEST Foundation in partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: C.H. Goss reports grants from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, European Commission and NIH (NHLBI, NIDDK and NCRR), during the conduct of the study; personal fees for advisory board work from Gilead Sciences, personal fees for data monitoring committee work from Novartis, grants from NIH and FDA, other (lead in trial research) from Boehringer Ingelheim, other (honoraria for lectures) from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work; none of the work presented in this opinion piece were influenced by the funding sources noted above; the funding sources that support other ongoing research played no role in writing this manuscript, or in the decision to submit for publication. Conflict of interest: O.F. Bayomy has no conflicts to disclose.