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Medical Policy Guideline for Trofile(TM) Established By Wellpoint, Inc: insurer says Trofile is only assay for testing tropism
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Licensee of Blue Cross/Blue Shield in fourteen states establishes guidelines for use of Trofile
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Monogram Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGRM) today announced that Wellpoint, Inc. has established a national Medical Policy Guideline for Monogram's Trofile Assay.
Wellpoint's guidelines provide that HIV tropism testing with Trofile is considered medically necessary for selecting individuals for treatment with CCR5 antagonists (i.e. Selzentry(TM)) for patients who have experienced virologic failure during antiretroviral treatment regimens and who have evidence of ongoing HIV-1 viral replication. Further, these guidelines confirm that Trofile is the only assay approved by Wellpoint for determining coreceptor tropism. Wellpoint has developed medical policies and guidelines that serve as some of the guidelines for coverage decisions by individual plans.
"Through its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, Wellpoint is one of the largest private healthcare payers in the U.S. and covers almost 35 million lives throughout its networks," said William Welch, Monogram's chief commercial officer. "Many of the individual Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans have been providing coverage for Trofile and we are pleased to see this guideline established at the national level."
Wellpoint, Inc. (formerly Anthem, Inc.) is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent health benefit plans and serves as the Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield licensee in: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Many of these individual Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans establish coverage policies for their members and the parent company also establishes national coverage policies that can be referenced by the individual plans.
About Monogram
Monogram is a biotechnology company advancing individualized medicine by discovering, developing and marketing innovative products to guide and improve treatment of serious infectious diseases and cancer. The Company's products are designed to help doctors optimize treatment regimens for their patients that lead to better outcomes and reduced costs. The Company's technology is also being used by numerous biopharmaceutical companies to develop new and improved antiviral therapeutics and vaccines as well as targeted cancer therapeutics. More information about the Company and its technology can be found on its web site at http://www.monogrambio.com.
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