News & Events
Prometheus Laboratories Surpasses 35 Million Covered Lives Under Positive Medical Policy for Anser® Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / Prometheus Laboratories Inc. ("Prometheus"), a leader in precision medicine for immune-mediated diseases, announced recent positive medical policy updates which apply to Anser® therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) by several Blue Cross Blue Shield plans (BCBS), integrated delivery networks (IDNs), other commercial health plans, and one of the largest laboratory benefits management companies in the United States (US). With the additional positive coverage policies, Anser TDM tests are now accessible to over 35 million covered lives under these plans.
The cost of biologics for immune-mediated diseases in the US exceeds $70 billion annually. While biologics have revolutionized treatment, up to two-thirds of patients fail therapy, largely due to unoptimized dosing. TDM has been demonstrated to be a clinically useful and cost-effective tool to optimize biologic treatment, with the goal of preventing unnecessary patient suffering, flares, surgeries, and hospitalizations.
"We applaud these positive changes in coverage policy," commented Laura Wingate of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. "Prior to this year, TDM was rarely covered under medical policy, resulting in costs often being borne directly by patients rather than by their health plans.
"The recent positive coverage policies issued for TDM signal recognition by payers of the significant role TDM plays in biologic dose optimization, enabling clinicians to make evidence-based decisions to improve patient care and reduce overall healthcare costs," remarked Holly Bauzon, Vice President of Market Access and Value for Prometheus. "We appreciate and commend these health plans for recognizing the value of TDM, and through these positive policies, enabling access to Anser testing for providers and their patients. We anticipate similar actions being taking by numerous other health plans and IDNs in the coming months."
About Anser
Anser is a proprietary family of homogenous mobility shift assays used to optimize biologic and biosimilar therapy in autoimmune diseases. The tests simultaneously measure biologic drug and antidrug antibody levels in serum, and are available for therapeutic drug monitoring of adalimumab, infliximab, ustekinumab and vedolizumab. Anser testing has been commercially available from Prometheus since 2012 and has been cited in over 100 peer-reviewed publications and abstracts. Over 400,000 Anser tests have been performed for ~200,000 unique patients.
About Prometheus Laboratories Inc.
Prometheus Laboratories is a leading specialty clinical laboratory which improves the healthcare journey for individuals with immune-mediated and gastrointestinal diseases by empowering providers to diagnose, treat and get their patients into remission faster with precision-guided care. For more information, please visit https://www.prometheuslabs.com and engage with us on LinkedIn.