WARFARIN Study Purpose

The purpose of the WARFARIN Study is to determine the utility of genetic testing in reducing the incidence of adverse events, both bleeding and thromboembolism, associated with the initiation of warfarin therapy.

Press Release: CMS Approves Study of Genetic Testing  to Improve Medicine Dosing

First-of-its-kind study to evaluate gene identification ability to predict patient response and
improve safety when dosing world's leading anti-blood clotting drug.  

Atlanta, GA,  July 16, 2010  -  Iverson Genetic Diagnostics today announced the company has received approval from CMS to conduct a WARFARIN Clinical Study. The two-year (2) study will assess the impact of genetic information in calculating doses and the changes in the rate of adverse events when initiating Warfarin drug therapy. These changes will be compared against doses initiated without genetic data. The randomized and blinded, multi-center study will involve more than 7000 participants at over 50 sites nationwide.

The specific CMS approval is for a clinical study under Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) and will cover pharmacogenetic testing of CYP2C9 or VKORC1 alleles to predict warfarin responsiveness. Iverson Genetic Diagnostic's CEO Dean Sproles commented, "The CMS approval of the WARFARIN Study is evidence of the growing role of genetics in helping doctors to develop optimal individual treatments for their patients. The data from this study will contribute to determining if the use of genetics in warfarin dosing reduces adverse health events."

Warfarin is a commonly used anticoagulant (blood thinner) and is most commonly known by the brand name of Coumadin®. The dosage and administration of warfarin must be individualized for each patient according to his or her response to the drug. Currently, these individual responses are evaluated on a trial-and-error basis...

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