NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Exact Sciences today announced that Aetna will cover its Cologuard test under its Medicare Advantage plan, which serves 967,000 members across the country.
The three-year contract goes into effect on April 1, 2015, the Madison, Wis.-based molecular diagnostics firm said. Cologuard will be available to Aetna's Medicare Advantage members through their physician without a co-payment or co-insurance, Exact Sciences noted.
Last year Exact Sciences received simultaneous approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Cologuard and a national coverage determination by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposing to reimburse the test once every three years for asymptomatic Medicare beneficiaries between ages 50 and 85 years who are at average risk for developing colorectal cancer.
The test is the first stool-based DNA test for colorectal cancer approved by the FDA. It analyzes hemoglobin, multiple DNA methylation biomarkers, mutations in the KRAS gene, and the total amount of DNA in stool samples.