NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Trovagene announced today that it has signed an in-network provider agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, establishing access for plan members to the company's full line of Trovera liquid biopsy tests.
This product line currently includes assays performed on either blood or urine, which detect mutations in EGFR, KRAS, and BRAF.
According to Trovagene CEO Bill Welch, the agreement with BCBSIL is one step in a larger reimbursement strategy for the company. Trovagene said it has secured contracts with payors covering about 168 million lives, so far.
BCBSIL is the largest health insurance company in Illinois and has 8 million members.
In its second quarter earnings report earlier this month, Trovagene said it had published data demonstrating that Trovera was able to identify EGFR T790M mutations in both the urine and blood of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and had high concordance with tumor tissue.
The company also said it entered into a clinical collaboration with the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center to investigate the early detection of pancreatic cancer and to monitor patient response to therapy using the Trovera KRAS ctDNA urine and blood tests, and that it would collaborate with the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish a standardized framework for the use of Trovera ctDNA testing in urine samples.
Trovagene's shares rose 5 percent to $5.87 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.