NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Guardant Health said today that its Guardant360 liquid biopsy test will be covered by health plans associated with technology assessment firm EviCore beginning this summer.
As a result, the test will have become a covered benefit for approximately 150 million people in total.
The new decision by EviCore will make the test covered for its health plan members as medically necessary to assist in selecting therapy for patients with advanced lung cancer, beginning July 1. Guardant said the new decision followed the University of Pennsylvania prospective study publication in JAMA Oncology, which evaluated the use of Guardant360 to guide the first-line treatment of patients with advanced lung cancer. Investigators in that study found that Guardant360 has sensitivity and detection rates comparable to tissue testing, and that patients responded to the treatment selected based on Guardant360 results.
Guardant said the EviCore decision — coupled with previous payor endorsements by Health Care Service Corporation, Independence Blue Cross, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, and Government Employees Health Association/Federal Employees Program — represents an addition of 38 million covered lives in 2019.
The company estimated that 115 million lives were covered by prior payor decisions for Guardant360.
According to Guardant, its test has already been ordered by more than 6,000 oncologists for more than 80,000 patients with advanced cancer since its introduction in 2014. The company did not break down how many of these orders have been for payor-covered lung cancer indications.