Study: Corus CAD demonstrates superiority to MPI

CardioDx saw good news from Florida this week with the presentation of results from the COMPASS trial involving Corus CAD, a blood-based gene expression test for obstructive coronary artery disease. The data were presented at the American Heart Association conference in Orlando.

The blinded, multicenter COMPASS study enrolled 537 patients with symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease who had been referred to myocardial perfusion imaging. A blood sample was obtained prior to MPI, and Corus CAD gene expression testing was subsequently performed. After MPI, patients were referred either to invasive angiography or to CT angiography. A total of 431 patients were eligible for analysis, having completed gene expression testing, MPI and either invasive angiography or CTA.

Study results showed Corus CAD was superior to MPI in diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity (89% versus 27%) and negative predictive value (96% compared with 88%) and performed well in ruling out obstructive coronary artery disease relative to both invasive angiography and CTA, the company notes in a release.

Corus CAD is the first and only clinically validated blood-based test for obstructive coronary artery disease, CardioDx notes. In addition, it is the only sex-specific test, accounting for critical biological differences between males and females. TIME Magazine also named the test as one of its Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2010.

Earlier this year, CardioDx snagged $60 million in venture funding to expand reimbursement coverage in the U.S. for Corus CAD and to continue development of future products in the field of cardiovascular genomic diagnostics.

- see the CardioDx release

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