Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Myriad Signs Contract with UnitedHealthcare for MyRisk Hereditary Cancer Risk Panel

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Myriad Genetics has signed a three-year contract with national payor UnitedHealthcare to provide access to its next-generation sequencing myRisk Hereditary Cancer test to beneficiaries who meet certain eligibility criteria for hereditary cancer risk.

The myRisk test gauges 25 genes associated with eight hereditary cancers, including breast, colon, ovarian, endometrial, pancreatic, prostate, and gastric cancers, and melanoma.

At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, Myriad presented data from a large prospective study that found that its myRisk Hereditary Cancer panel was able to identify 51 percent more patients with a heightened risk for familial breast and ovarian cancer compared to testing just the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Previously, the firm had shown that the myRisk test picked up 61 percent more patients at risk for hereditary colon cancer compared to standard genetic testing for the disease.

Myriad launched myRisk to a group of early-access customers last September.

The diagnostics firm also sells BRACAnalysis, its best-selling test which gauges BRCA1/2 mutations associated with increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. However, Myriad plans to transition all its hereditary cancer risk testing to the myRisk panel by the summer of 2015.

The Scan

Open Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas Team Introduces Genomic Data Collection, Analytical Tools

A study in Cell Genomics outlines open-source methods being used to analyze and translate whole-genome, exome, and RNA sequence data from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.

Neurological Outcomes Linked to Innate Immune Features After Cardiac Arrest

Researchers reporting in Med dig into immune features found a few hours after cardiac arrest that correspond with neurological outcomes.

Mouse Study Finds Circadian Rhythm-Related Gene Expression Changes Linked to Sleep Apnea

A paper in PLOS Biology reveals tissue-specific circadian rhythm and gene expression patterns in an intermittent hypoxia-based mouse model of obstructive sleep apnea.

Polygenic Risk Score to Predict Preeclampsia, Gestational Hypertension in Pregnant Women

Researchers in Nature Medicine provide new mechanistic insights into the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which may help develop therapeutics.