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Natera Receives Final Medicare Coverage for Prospera(TM) Organ Transplant Rejection Assessment Test
SAN CARLOS, Calif., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRA), a global leader in cell-free DNA testing, today announced that Medicare has
About this update from Natera, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"SAN CARLOS, Calif., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRA), a global leader in cell-free DNA testing, today announced that Medicare has finalized its local coverage determination (LCD) to provide insurance coverage for the Prospera donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) test, for all kidney transplant recipients, including those with multiple kidney transplants, an expansion in coverage from the initial draft. Nearly all newly transplanted patients are eligible for Medicare coverage.\n\n \nThe Prospera test assesses the risk of active renal allograft rejection with greater precision than other biomarkers or other dd-cfDNA tests on the market. Prospera is the industry's first dd-cfDNA test clinically validated to identify both T-cell mediated rejection and antibody mediated rejection.1,2 \n\"In the summer of 2018, we announced our timeline to achieve a final coverage decision by the end of 2019. I am proud of the Natera team for achieving every major milestone on time, enabling the imminent commercialization of Prospera,\" said Steve Chapman, Natera's CEO. \"The expansion in coverage allows us to help an important new set of patients.\"\nMore than 190,000 Americans are living with a kidney transplant and roughly 20,000 new kidney transplant surgeries are performed each year.3,4 It is estimated that 20-30 percent of kidney transplants fail within five years, and approximately 45 percent fail within 10 years.5,6 \n\"Medicare coverage for Prospera is significant for Natera and for patient care,\" said Paul Billings, M.D., Ph.D., Natera's Chief Medical Officer. \"There are more than 113,000 men, women and children that are on organ transplant waiting lists.4 Sustaining every organ is critical to saving lives.\"\nTraditional tools for diagnosing organ transplant rejection are either invasive biopsies, or inaccurate serum creatinine tests. Prospera was created to help physicians improve graft survival by optimizing immunosuppression levels and avoiding unnecessary biopsies. \nEarlier this year, Natera announced the ProActive Study, the industry's largest prospective registry study for kidney transplant recipients using cell-free DNA assessment. The study will enroll 3,000 kidney transplant patients from the time of surgery, and will measure changes in biopsy usage and clinical outcomes based on physician-directed use...