NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Pharmacy benefits management company Medco and Mayo Collaborative Services plan to study whether using genetic tests can cut costs and improve care for patients taking the blood-thinner warfarin, Medco today.
Medco said it will work with Mayo to evaluate test data from more than 1,000 subjects from the roughly 200,000 individuals Medco tracks every year who are new to warfarin treatment.
The genetic testing will be performed by the Mayo Clinic’s department of laboratory medicine and pathology, and the results will be forwarded to physicians to help them determine correct drug dosage, Medco said.
The study will follow patients “through the normal course of treatment” and will be completed at the end of 2007. Medco said the study is the first in a line of similar collaborations that will explore the financial and health benefits of genetic tests used with other drugs.