NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Foundation Medicine has partnered with Patient Advocate Foundation to improve needy patients' ability to access next-generation sequencing tests, apply the results to their care, and receive personalized targeted therapies.
Through the FoundationOne CareLine Program, Foundation Medicine is offering personalized case management services to needy patients, so their doctors can better act on results from FoundationOne, the company's targeted sequencing-based cancer test. FoundationOne screens for mutations in 200 cancer-related genes and matches patients to targeted therapies they're most likely to respond to or to a clinical trial.
The program is an effort by Foundation Medicine and Patient Advocate Foundation to drive adoption of personalized medicine tools and strategies into the community setting, where approximately 80 percent of the cancer care is delivered in this country. "Adoption of FoundationOne by academic and community-based oncologists supports the clinical utility required to improve health outcomes and quality of life for select groups of patients that can benefit from targeted treatment," Foundation Medicine said in a statement. "However, it can sometimes be difficult for patients and their physicians to gain access to appropriate and potentially life-saving treatments."
Deborah Morosini, VP of clinical development at Foundation Medicine, said in a statement that the partnership will connect patients to case management resources that can help guide them to treatments that are right for them according to peer-reviewed literature. In addition to case management services, the program also helps uninsured patients and their families understand the reimbursement system to help cover costs for FoundationOne testing, and educates them on clinical trials, screening, and access to compassionate use drugs.
The FoundationOne CareLine is an expansion of a pilot effort between Foundation Medicine and Patient Advocate Foundation, in which the partners provided similar services to patients from large physician practices. The program helped garner close to $400,000 in reimbursement for medical expenses for patients, according to Foundation Medicine.