NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — A Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medical Advisory Panel has decided that Genomic Health’s Oncotype DX assay meets criteria set by the insurance company’s Technology Evaluation Center as a diagnostic for certain breast cancers, Genomic Health said today.
At a meeting last month the advisory panel concluded that the test meets its criteria for women with estrogen receptor-positive, node-negative, tamoxifen-treated breast cancer, Genomic Health said.
The assessment, which is for "informational purposes only," does not guarantee that Blue Cross and Blue Shield payor companies will cover the test, according to a Blue Cross and Blue Shield official. Blue Cross and Blue Shield payor companies make their own decisions about what they will cover, but may take a scientific assessment into account as they decide what to cover, the official said.
The company said the test has clinical evidence of its ability “to predict the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence, the likelihood of patient survival within 10 years of diagnosis and the likelihood of chemotherapy benefit.”