Originally published Sept. 28.
Diamond Healthcare has begun rolling out AssureRx Health's GeneSightRx psychiatric pharmacogenetic test in 10 of its nationwide behavioral health units, the companies announced today. Diamond plans to expand adoption of PGx testing within its 30-state network throughout this year and next.
"We plan to offer this state-of-the-art technology to an increasing number of hospitals in our network and differentiate our behavioral health units in the marketplace by improving patient outcomes, while decreasing the cost of patient care," said Diamond Healthcare CEO George White in a statement.
AssureRx will initially launch GeneSightRx as a laboratory-developed test. According to the company, the test will help doctors select the antidepressant and antipsychotic medication a psychiatric patient is most likely to respond to.
GeneSightRx analyzes five gene variants in order to gauge how well patients respond to psychotropic medications.
AssureRx in March announced the addition of a fifth gene, CYP1A2, to its GeneSightRx panel, which already analyzed CYP2D6, CYP2C19, the serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4, and the serotonin 2A receptor gene 5HTR2A.
Diamond Healthcare is a behavioral health and chemical dependency services company headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company partners with healthcare organizations — from rural hospitals to urban academic medical centers — across the country to provide its services.
According to Richard Shrum, Diamond Healthcare executive VP of operations, the healthcare provider has "already implemented GeneSightRx in a number of [its] sites and expect[s] to accelerate adoption of psychiatric pharmacogenetics in the coming months."