CINCINNATI, Ohio — Personalized drug company AssureRx on Thursday launched its first product: a genetic test and analysis that will determine how psychiatric medicines could impact individual patients.
GeneSightRx uses either a blood test or cheek swab to check for several genetic variants that can alter the effectiveness of 24 psychiatric drugs such as Paxil, Prozac and Haldol for afflictions ranging from depression and anxiety. The analysis can, for example, suggest certain patients won’t absorb drugs into the system and risk increased side effects. A physician could then adjust the dosage or prescribe something else as a result.
AssureRx said the test will increase the chance of effective treatments with psychiatric drugs; currently many drug treatments have a 50 percent failure rate. GeneSightRx tests are by prescription only and results are available via a secure Web site within two days.
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The launch is a major milestone for the company, but the challenges before it demonstrate the difficulties in the field of personalized medicine. The test, which has a four-figure price tag less than $3,800, isn’t widely reimbursed among insurance companies, said Al Lucas, AssureRx’s vice president of sales and marketing. The company is conducting additional clinical tests to demonstrate its effectiveness, which it hopes will lead to broader acceptance.
Also, GeneSightRx doesn’t predict how well a drug will work in a patient. Instead, it is another tool to help a physician better judge how to use the medication, Lucas said.
But the company also sees the drug as a critical first step to its own success. AssureRx plans over the next year to expand the number of psychiatric drugs reviewed in its test, and will also add new factors into its analysis, such as the impact of environment, diet and multiple afflictions. It could by the end of 2010 have a new product that analyzes the impact of ADHD, Parkinson’s Disease and other seizure disorders, Lucas said.
The company will add jobs in a phased national rollout determined partly on revenue from test sales. AssureRx will largely target psychiatrists in hospitals for its test.
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The company raised $2.66 million at the beginning of the year, and in June hired Chief Executive Officer James Burns specifically to get the test ready for commercial launch. It developed its test through research from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Mayo Clinic. Investors include Mayo, Queen City Angels, CincyTech Ventures, Blue Chip Venture Co. and Cincinnati Children’s Tomorrow Fund.
It’s currently raising a Series A round of capital.
