Credit: Shutterstock photoMyriad Genetics, Inc.'sMYGN wholly owned subsidiary Assurex Health recently formed an alliance with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in PRIME Care (PRecision Medicine In MEntal Health Care) - a multi-center and national trial to evaluate the effectiveness of GeneSight test in improving health resultsfor veterans suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD).
Slated to complete in 2021, PRIME Care is expected to enroll 2,000 patients with MDD. Moreover, the trial will include pharmacogenomic testing evaluating patients's response to GeneSight-guided therapy. The study will also include 250 healthcare providers at 21 VA medical centers.
The market for MDD therapy is growing at a rapid pace. Per the company, veterans have been found to suffer from MDD or some other mental health disorder with high suicide rates. In addition, the company stated that roughly 20% of the 2.6 million soldiers positioned in Iraq or Afghanistan have been suffering from some form of mental health disease or MDD. We believe a favorable outcome from the study might drive the uptake of GeneSight tests.
As GeneSight is in the initial stages of adoption and is placed in a highly under-penetrated preventive care market, the product has huge growth potential. Also, management has been taking necessary steps to strengthen the GeneSight testing platform.
In this regard, in November 2017, Assurex Health announced favorable results from a multi-center, double-blind and randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of GeneSight Psychotropic test on psychiatric treatment response in 1,200 patients with major depressive disorder. Moreover, in October, Assurex Health announced favorable results for the test in patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This favorable data, supporting the superiority of GeneSight test for better treatment of patients with GAD, was presented at the 25 th World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics meeting in Orlando.
In the last reported first quarter of fiscal 2018, the company witnessed a 300% rise in GeneSight test revenues under the highest revenue-grossing Molecular diagnostic test segment (accounting for 94% of total revenues). Thus, Myriad Genetics' latest alliance seems to be in line with the company's expectations to witness consistent growth in GeneSight test revenues in the quarters ahead.
Myriad Genetics has been consistently gaining investors' confidence with positive results. Over the last three months, the stock has gained 12.6% against the 4.9% loss of the broader industry .
Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
Myriad Genetics currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Other top-ranked medical stocks are PetMed Express, Inc. PETS , Align Technology, Inc. ALGN and Luminex Corporation LMNX . Notably, PetMed, Align Technology and Luminex currently sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
PetMed has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 10%. The stock has rallied roughly 71.8% over the last year.
Align Technologyhas a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 28.9%. The stock has gained 170.1% in the last year.
Luminex has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 15%. The stock has gained 87.1% in the last year.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
