The agreement expands access to the diagnostic test to an additional 45 million people in the United States.
CNSide Diagnostics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Plus Therapeutics, signed a national agreement with Elevance Health to provide the CNSide Cerebrospinal Fluid Tumor Cell Enumeration assay.
The agreement, which became effective May 1, 2026, covers approximately 45.4 million people throughout the US. This brings the total contracted coverage for the assay to 126 million people, according to a press release from Plus Therapeutics. This agreement follows previous coverage expansions for the CNSide assay, including decisions by UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Blue Shield of California.
The assay platform supports diagnoses, treatment monitoring, and treatment guidance for patients with leptomeningeal metastases. The company says the clinical utility of the assay has been shown in nine peer-reviewed publications, the FORESEE clinical trial, and through real-world use.
More than 11,000 of the spinal fluid tumor cell tests have been performed at over 120 US cancer institutions since 2020. The test delivers 92% sensitivity and 95% specificity, while influencing treatment decisions in 90% of cases, according to Plus Therapeutics.
The test is available exclusively through CNSide Diagnostics as a testing service provided to health care professionals in the US. The company develops laboratory-developed tests designed to identify tumor cells that have metastasized to the central nervous system in patients with carcinomas and melanomas. The platform enables quantitative analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid to improve the management of patients with leptomeningeal metastases, according to the release.
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