NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – XDx announced it has reached an agreement with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to cover XDx's AlloMap test.
Separately, the Brisbane, Calif.-based company also said that Florida Medicaid has issued a positive coverage decision for the gene expression test.
Highmark BCBS covers about 3.2 million members in western Pennsylvania and previously issued a positive coverage decision for the test in 2011. The agreement announced this week "establishes formally reimbursement coverage at a set price and provides terms for payment timing," an XDx official told GenomeWeb Daily News by e-mail.
Since the positive coverage decision, Highmark has reimbursed XDx for AlloMap, and "[t]hey have reconfirmed their commitment to the test by entering into a contractual agreement," XDx Chief Business Officer Matthew Meyer said, adding that a positive coverage decision "is a medical policy reflecting that payer's belief in the clinical necessity of a product or service."
AlloMap measures the expression levels of a set of genes from a blood sample, providing clinicians a tool for evaluating a patient's risk for a heart transplant rejection. The company launched the test in 2005, and the US Food and Drug Administration approved the test three years later.
In 2013, the number of AlloMap tests performed increased 20 percent year over year, XDx CEO Peter Maag recently told Pharmacogenomics Reporter.