Palmetto

Under the draft determination, the test would be covered to help assess which treatments to use in patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Piper Jaffray analyst William Quirk said the pricing, which was much higher than expected, will help push CareDx toward profitability.

The final LCD covers AlloSure in renal allograft recipients who have a probability of active renal allograft rejection.

The genomic test is designed to help doctors decide which patients are at low enough risk that they can be more conservatively managed.

The molecular testing firm estimated that more than 70 percent of Medicare patients with prostate cancer will now have coverage for Prolaris.

The coverage decision limits the test to patients with advanced lung cancers who haven't been genomically profiled and who can't receive tissue-based testing.

The Medicare contractor proposed coverage for several cancer assays, but would not cover molecular respiratory virus assays or a test for inflammatory bowel disease.

It was a rough year for biotech stocks — the Nasdaq Biotech Index fell 22 percent even as the Dow gained 13 percent and the Nasdaq gained 8 percent.