PGxHealth®, a division of Clinical Data, Inc has announced the launch of its new genetic test for Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), an inherited and often fatal heart condition, at the 2008 American Heart Association meeting. The addition of the Familion® ARVC Test expands the Company’s Familion family of genetic tests for inherited cardiac syndromes and marks its third successful test launch in the past 12 months. Clinical Data also announced plans to make its databases of genetic mutations associated with inherited cardiac conditions, such as ARVC, available to the public.
“The launch of our Familion ARVC Test illustrates the company’s ongoing commitment to extend our leadership position in cardiovascular genetics by making additional tests more broadly available to clinicians, patients and their family members,” said Drew Fromkin, President and CEO of Clinical Data. “We are also reiterating our commitment to the clinical and research communities and advocacy groups by releasing our cardiac genetic databases to the public in support of efforts to more fully understand the genetic basis of these complex diseases.”
In 2006, Joint Guidelines released by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the European Society of Cardiology support the utilization of genetic testing for patients and their family members suspected of carrying mutations causative of ARVC. The Familion ARVC Test is a complex genetic test that sequences the five genes most commonly associated with ARVC.
“Because over 40% of ARVC patients suffer sudden cardiac death as their first known manifestation of disease, making an early and accurate diagnosis is critical to saving lives,” said Jeffrey Towbin, MD, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, one of the world’s thought leaders on ARVC. “Comprehensive genetic screening that includes all five ARVC causing genes is a critical tool in the diagnosis and management of ARVC.”
In addition, PGxHealth intends to publish its Familion databases beginning in the spring of 2009, as part of a large-scale database project for inherited cardiac conditions. Initially, the publicly accessible data will include information related to long QT syndrome (LQTS) and Brugada syndrome (BrS), two inherited channelopathies.
“The publication of this large collection of genetic data from approximately 2,500 LQTS and 200 BrS patients, and corresponding data from a healthy reference population of almost 700 volunteers, will be an unprecedented resource for the cardiac research and clinical communities,” said Carol R Reed, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Clinical Data. “This data release is being carefully assembled in collaboration with multiple academic thought leaders from around the world and will be made available in an anonymous, publicly accessible database, which will be regularly updated with new data from our testing.”
