Grant Details
Grant Number: |
3R01CA221870-03S1 Interpret this number |
Primary Investigator: |
Phillips, Kathryn |
Organization: |
University Of California, San Francisco |
Project Title: |
Coverage, Price, and Reimbursement for Multigene Tests for Cancer and Related Conditions |
Fiscal Year: |
2020 |
Abstract
Project Summary
Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) have long challenged clinicians, researchers, and
policymakers as the only leading causes of death in the United States without disease-modifying treatment.
One of the most common and potent risk factor is the ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene, APOE, which has
been the focus of intense research and lay public interest. While APOEε4 (“APOE”) is associated with an
increased risk for late-onset AD, on its own it has not been found to have clinical validity and utility. Thus,
clinical guidelines recommend against APOE testing, either direct-to-consumer (DTC) or clinician ordered. In
2017, despite the lack of clinical guidelines recommending APOE testing, the FDA approved 23andMe's
Genetic Health Risk Report, which includes testing for APOE as well as other conditions and studies have
shown that a majority of consumers' value APOE testing and state they would like to obtain it. The dynamic
surrounding APOE testing, including consumer access to testing despite the lack of known clinical utility and
with results provided to consumers outside of the clinical care context – represents an overarching challenge
that we believe will increasingly become a clinical, economic, and policy conundrum.
The objective of this supplement will be to develop conceptual frameworks and methodological
approaches to examine the economic, financial/coverage, and policy implications of genetic testing for
ADRD risk and conduct initial analyses in the following areas:
(1) Coverage policies for ADRD genetic testing
(2) Role of physicians in managing patients who present their APOE DTC testing results
(3) Economic value of ADRD genetic testing
The particular focus of this Supplement is APOE testing for late-onset AD because of its availability via DTC
testing. However, we will place this work into the larger context of testing for other ADRD risk factors and thus
consider a range of genetic risk variants, dementia types (e.g., frontotemporal dementia, Lewy Body
Dementia), and forms of disease (early- vs. late-onset; familial vs. sporadic).
Publications
None. See parent grant details.