NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Medicare contractor Palmetto GBA and insurer Anthem have issued positive coverage decisions for Myriad Genetics' breast cancer recurrence test EndoPredict, the company announced.
“We now have nearly full coverage for EndoPredict testing in the United States which was accomplished in an unprecedented time of less than six months after our launch,” Myriad CEO Mark Capone said in a statement. Once these coverage decisions are fully implemented, 90 percent of breast cancer patients will have coverage for EndoPredict, Myriad estimated.
EndoPredict gauges eight cancer-related genes and determines whether an early-stage breast cancer patient is at high or low risk of recurrence 5 to 10 years after diagnosis. Capone highlighted a study comparing EndoPredict to Genomic Health's Oncotype DX, which showed that fewer patients deemed to be low risk by the new test experienced recurrence over 10 years compared to Oncotype DX.