Anything of consequence occurring as a result of the Cellnetix partnership? Not seeing anything in the marketplace....
I applaud CellNetix and PAML for partnering to from a strong regional partnership for molecular testing. They might not know it yet, but Foundation Medicine in Cambridge, MA is about to eat their lunch (and everyone else's lunch). The big national ASCO meeting for 2013 just occured. Oncologists nationwide are jumping on the FoundationOne molecular test -- amazing clinical application of next generation DNA sequencing with unprecedented depth. The Foundation One test has emerged as the dominant cancer molecular test. All oncologists at Swedish hospital, Providence health system (including Sacred Heart in Spokane and Olympia hospital), are going to be sending solid tumor samples to Foundation medicine in Cambridge for analysis. Molecular labs at CellNetix/PAML will be sitting idle as this Harvard/MIT biotech startup has rendered local oncology molecular testing essentially obsolete.
Hey Foundation PR person - get yourself educated on how things work in the referral world! Swedish, Prov, etc. aren't going to send their patients' specimens to Foundation if that lab's out-of-network with those patients' insurance companies. What doc wants to leave their patient with an $800 unreimburseed bill? And lookee here - Foundation's NOT IN-NETWORK WITH ANY OF THE WASHINGTON PLANS. Make sure you get back with us when that happens...
Well that settles it. Looks like you guys are in the clear. Your bold molecular play is going to pay off big time as PAML dominates! Next generation sequencing is a game changer. PAML/CellNetix can't do it. I mean, CellNetix still can't even recruit a board-certified molecular pathologist, their recruitment advertisement has been on Pathologyoutlines.com for a long long time. Even if they had an illumina NGS instrument they still couldn't even closely approach the product from Foundation. Go hit the street and ask your medical oncologists what they want. The opinion of oncologists is going to be huge. After ASCO 2013, oncologists want 275 molecular tests bundled into one test that costs less than a grand. We'll see what CMS and Washington State private insurers do in a value-based marketplace.
Thank you for making my point! There's why CMS and the private payers won't pay for Foundation: a panel with 275 molecular assays doesn't pass the threshold for clinical utility in ANY patient! Just ask Counsyl - they also can't convince the medical policy people at BCBSA, Hayes, or the Kaiser TEC committee that their similarly huge, "low cost" panel has much clinical worth outside of the CF or Fragile X components (which only cost a few hundred bucks through PAML/LabCorp/etc) You can't argue apple pie is a nutritious meal just because it's got apples in it!
You are forgetting that the Medical Directors for these facilities are for the most part Cellnetix employee's! I'm pretty sure Cellnetix will be getting the solid tumors
