Turna Ray
Turna Ray has been covering the personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics industries for GenomeWeb since 2006. She closely tracks the evolving regulatory, reimbursement, and business environment for precision medicine products.

Articles Authored by Turna Ray
NCI Director Sharpless Outlines Ideas to Aggressively Lower Cancer Deaths
At the AACR Annual Meeting, Sharpless said NCI should focus on improving early screening, access to trials, and development of advanced drugs to realize President Biden's goal of eradicating cancer.

Intermountain Gets National Stage, Myriad Adds Tumor Profiling Panel With Combined Test Offering
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Although the logistics still need to be worked out, the partners hope to streamline oncologists' experience ordering tests that can inform patient care.
The college wants genetic counselors to work with doctors when ordering genetic tests, but not all medical geneticists agree the stance is good for patients.

Exact Sciences Oncotype DX Identifies Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients Who Can Forgo Chemo
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The results, presented at SABCS this week, leave open whether the added benefit from chemo seen in premenopausal women may be due to chemo-induced hormone reduction.

The companies will work with labs to improve payors' understanding of the costs of performing PD-L1 testing and the value it provides to patient care.
Quest Diagnostics Win in Wrongful Death Case Reveals Ongoing Challenges for Variant Classification
Williams v Quest/Athena struck a nerve with the genetic testing community by probing what the standard of care is and ought to be for variant classification.

NCI-MATCH Data Shows Value of Platform Trials for Patients With Rare Genomically Driven Cancers
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The findings demonstrate the value of multi-cohort platform trials as an option for refractory cancer patients with particularly rare genomic tumor alterations.
Palmetto Cease-and-Desist Letter to Reimbursement Expert Raises Questions About Pricing Transparency
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As government lab spending grows, the Medicare contractor has barred access to a coding and pricing file obtained via FOIA claiming it holds business secrets.

The move raises questions about what precisely is an LDT outside of FDA jurisdiction and heightens concerns that poorly validated tests will enter the market and endanger public health.

The MAGENTA and ProGen trials showed that video-based and online education can increase the number of patients getting tested compared to traditional approaches.
