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VA Selects Personal Genome Diagnostics for Cancer Genomic Testing Pilot Program

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Personal Genome Diagnostics today announced it has been selected by the US Department of Veterans Affairs New England Veteran's Integrated Service Network to provide genomic testing services for a new precision oncology program.

Patients in the program with newly diagnosed lung cancer will receive testing with PGDx's CancerSelect targeted gene panel.

The precision oncology program (POP) is being established to provide advanced clinical care to veterans and provide opportunities to discover and validate novel cancer biomarkers. The New England program is a pilot project for cancer genomic testing that could potentially be offered at all VA hospitals nationwide, PGDx said in a statement.

"We specifically designed our CancerSelect panel to have unsurpassed sensitivity and specificity while maintaining its cost-effectiveness, so that it can be available to patients in a range of healthcare settings, including programs such as POP," PGDx COO Jeffrey Boschwitz said in a statement.

CancerSelect uses next-generation sequencing technology to identify somatic mutations, focal amplifications, and translocations in the genes that have the greatest potential to impact treatment decisions.

PGDx said it was awarded this contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs based on a competitive process.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In January, PGDx signed a collaborative agreement to provide CancerSelect and other gene panels to Human Longevity.

In October 2014, the VA awarded Personalis a contract to provide clinical exome sequencing services.