CardioDx, a medical diagnostic company that makes a blood test for heart disease, is shutting down, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
On the same day that it boasted about its test, CardioDx informed a California state agency in mid-December that it would be closing and laying off 110 workers, the Chronicle adds.
Chronicle adds that though the firm's closing appears sudden, it comes after Medicare stopped paying for the firm's test, Corus CAD, in November. One notice posted by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services argued that the test, which gauges whether patient with chest pain might need additional testing to rule out coronary artery disease, is not medically necessary. "Data regarding its clinical usefulness in elderly (Medicare-aged) patients, particularly males, is significantly lacking in all scientific articles," it said, according to the Chronicle.
In addition, the Chronicle says the firm has been subject to whistleblower suits from former employees alleging that the company was defrauding Medicare and knew its test was unnecessary. The Chronicle notes, though, that Department of Justice said in court filings that it was not following up on the allegations.