Summary: Augurex Life Sciences and Quest Diagnostics have partnered to introduce the 14-3-3η biomarker-based test for rheumatoid arthritis across the U.S. by December 2024.
Takeaways:
- Innovative Testing for RA: Quest Diagnostics will offer a lab-developed test using the 14-3-3η biomarker, which helps detect rheumatoid arthritis and assess the risk of severe disease and joint damage.
- Improved Access for Patients: Starting Dec. 2, 2024, patients with a physician’s order can provide blood specimens at over 2,000 Quest service centers nationwide for RA testing.
- Advancing RA Diagnosis: The partnership highlights the growing recognition of 14-3-3η as a critical biomarker, aiming to expedite accurate diagnoses and treatment plans for RA patients.
Augurex Life Sciences Corp., a provider in autoimmune biomarker-based diagnostics, has formed a nonexclusive agreement with Quest Diagnostics under which Quest will validate and offer a lab-developed test based on the Augurex 14-3-3η (eta) biomarker in the United States.
Quest intends to begin offering the test service to physicians from its advanced laboratory in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., by Dec. 2, 2024. With a physician’s order, patients interested in the test will be able to provide a blood specimen at one of over 2,000 Quest Diagnostics patient service centers in the United States.
Detecting Rheumatoid Arthritis
The 14-3-3eta test aids in detecting elevated levels of the 14-3-3eta protein, which are specific for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and linked to more severe disease and joint damage risk.
“Reintroducing the 14-3-3eta test with Quest Diagnostics is an important step in meeting the evolving needs of RA patients and clinicians,” says Neil Klompas, CEO of Augurex. “With the increasing recognition of 14-3-3eta as a valuable biomarker in inflammatory diseases, Quest’s reintroduction of this test to physicians in the U.S. will expand access to an important tool for expediting treatment decisions.”
Further Reading
“Our agreement with Augurex builds on our record of innovation in autoimmune disease, which includes being the first U.S. lab provider to introduce a lab-developed test based on the Augurex 14-3-3eta biomarker more than a decade ago. We look forward to reintroducing our 14-3-3eta lab-developed test to physicians later this month,” says James D. Faix, MD, medical director, Immunology and R&D, Quest Diagnostics.
