Joint Assurex Health and Mayo Clinic Study Demonstrates Clinical Utility of Assurex Health's Pharmacogenomic Test to Guide Treatment of Major Depressive Disorders

MASON, Ohio, Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Assurex Health, a personalized medicine company focused on pharmacogenomics for neuropsychiatric disorders, today announced the publication of a joint clinical study conducted by Assurex and Mayo Clinic which provides additional evidence for the effectiveness of the GeneSight pharmacogenomic test over the current method for selecting psychotropic medications.  The study results were published on July 24, 2013 in Pharmacogenetics and Genomics. The primary outcome of the study showed a substantially greater baseline to endpoint decrease in depressive symptoms with higher rates of response and remission in the guided GeneSight group over empiric prescribing, which is the current standard of care. These results reinforce the benefit of GeneSight in providing more objective, evidence-based support for clinicians in selecting medications for patients with psychiatric disorders.

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The prospective clinical trial, involving 227 participants divided into pharmacogenomic-guided treatment and treatment-as-usual groups, utilized the GeneSight interpretive report to categorize 26 antidepressants and antipsychotics into color-coded green, yellow, and red "bins" based on each participant's genetic information and pharmacology of the medications.  Significantly greater reductions in symptoms were observed for the GeneSight-guided group using multiple symptom rating scales completed by both clinicians and patients. Participants in the GeneSight-guided group experienced an overall greater than 2-fold improvement in both symptoms and likelihood to achieve remission.

Overall, results with GeneSight-guided treatment were superior to unguided treatment-as-usual. The study showed the ability of GeneSight to identify individuals who are likely to have a favorable outcome with specific pharmacotherapies, supporting the clinical utility of the GeneSight test. A four-fold greater improvement in depressive symptoms was observed in the GeneSight-guided group among participants who entered the study on medications most discordant (red-bin) with their pharmacogenomic profile. 

Physicians for nearly 94% of patients in the GeneSight-guided group used the report to either switch participants off medications discordant with their genetics to medications in the green bin or to adjust medication dosages according to the participant's GeneSight report.

These findings replicate and expand on the magnitude of the effect observed in a previous prospective joint clinical study from Assurex and Mayo Clinic published in Translational Psychiatry (Oct. 2012).  This smaller study compared GeneSight-guided prescribing versus treatment-as-usual in adult patients with a primary diagnosis of a major depressive disorder over an 8 week period. Furthermore, a one-year blinded retrospective study of adult patients with a diagnosis of depressive or anxiety disorder published in Translational Psychiatry (Mar. 2013) demonstrated that patients taking discordant red bin medications based on the GeneSight report had substantially higher rates of medical utilization, 3-fold greater medical absence days, and 4-fold greater medical disability claims than patients on non-red bin medications.

"Multiple clinical studies have now demonstrated the clinical validity and clinical utility of our integrated, GeneSight combinatorial pharmacogenomic testing platform," according to Bryan M. Dechairo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs & Clinical Development at Assurex Health. "Prescribing a medication regimen that is more likely to succeed because it is tailored to an individual patient's genetic profile can help clinicians better manage each patient's disorder and improve clinical outcomes."

About Assurex Health

Assurex Health is a personalized medicine company that specializes in pharmacogenomics and is dedicated to helping physicians determine the right medication for individual patients suffering from neuropsychiatric and other disorders. The company was founded to commercialize industry-leading personalized medicine technology for neuropsychiatric disorders. Assurex Health has licensed technology from Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in the technology referenced in this news release. For more information about Assurex Health, please visit www.assurexhealth.com.

About GeneSight

GeneSight is a laboratory-developed pharmacogenomic test that uses cutting edge technology to measure and analyze clinically important genomic variants in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. The results of the GeneSight report can help a clinician understand the way a patient's unique genomic makeup may affect certain psychiatric drugs. The analysis is based on pharmacogenomics, the study of genomic factors that influence an individual's response to drug treatments, FDA approved manufacturers' drug labels, peer reviewed scientific and clinical publications, and proven drug pharmacology.  Quick turnaround time, combined with a customized report of the patient's genomic makeup, clinical experience, and other factors can provide information to help a physician make personalized drug treatment choices for each patient.

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SOURCE Assurex Health