SALT LAKE CITY, March 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN), a leader in molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine, continues to demonstrate an unmatched commitment to hereditary cancer risk assessment and genetic testing during National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
As the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in both men and women in the United States, colon cancer kills one person every 10 minutes. More than 140,000 new cases of colon cancer are expected to be diagnosed this year alone. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 22 men and one in 24 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime. It is estimated that five to 10 percent of all colon cancers are caused by an inherited genetic mutation that is passed on from parent to child.
“Myriad has been a pioneer in the field of hereditary cancer risk assessment for colon cancer for more than 20 years, and that commitment continues today,” said Johnathan Lancaster, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, Myriad Genetics, Inc. “We believe that knowledge is power, and for many patients with colon cancer, genetic testing can make a real difference to them and to the lives of their family members.”
The leading genetic test for hereditary colon cancer risk assessment is called myRisk® Hereditary Cancer. People can take the Hereditary Cancer Quiz to determine if they might be suitable candidates for genetic testing. The quiz results provide helpful information that people can use to discuss their personal risk of colon cancer with their healthcare professional.
“If you have a family history of colon, ovarian, and/or uterine/endometrial cancer, it could be caused by a hereditary cancer syndrome,” said Sapna Syngal, M.D., director of research at the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “And if you have colon cancer and were diagnosed before 50 years of age, you should definitely pursue discussions about genetic testing.”
Myriad Joins Forces with #StrongArmSelfie Social Media Campaign Myriad is committed to advocating for patients with colon cancer and is collaborating with Fight Colorectal Cancer throughout March. As such, Myriad will sponsor the #StrongArmSelfiesocial media campaign, donating $1 to Fight Colorectal Cancer for the first 5,000 people who share selfies using #StrongArmSelfie. A #StrongArmSelfie is an easy way to show support in the fight against colorectal cancer. All people need to do is post or share a photo onto a public Twitter or Instagram account with the hashtag #StrongArmSelfie. For more information about how to participate in the #StrongArmSelfie campaign, visit www.fightcolorectalcancer.org.
“We are very excited that Myriad Genetics is showing its support in the fight against colorectal cancer and the #StrongArmSelfie campaign,” said Michell Baker, director of Partnership Development at Fight Colorectal Cancer. “We’ve already seen #StrongArmSelfie posts from people all over the world! Famous individuals like Coach Jim Harbaugh, Bear Grylls, Luke Perry, the hosts of The Doctors V show and more have flexed for a #StrongArmSelfie to show their support for the cause.”
About myRisk® Hereditary Cancer and Patient Access myRisk Hereditary Cancer is a 28-gene panel and helps doctors understand an unaffected person’s risk of developing hereditary colon cancer using genetic testing and family history. In contrast, for those already diagnosed with colon cancer, the myRisk test can help identify their risk of secondary cancers, help inform medical management, and may help prevent cancer in unaffected family members who inherited a cancer-causing mutation.
Patients can access myRisk a number of ways, including through health insurance coverage from an employer-sponsored health plan, a health insurance exchange plan or a program like Medicare or Medicaid. Myriad also offers financial assistance programs for those who may have trouble accessing tests or lack coverage. The Company has provided more than $76 million in financial assistance to patients over the past five fiscal years. Learn more at https://myriadpromise.com/
About Myriad Genetics Myriad Genetics Inc., is a leading personalized medicine company dedicated to being a trusted advisor transforming patient lives worldwide with pioneering molecular diagnostics. Myriad discovers and commercializes molecular diagnostic tests that: determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across six major medical specialties where molecular diagnostics can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. Myriad is focused on three strategic imperatives: maintaining leadership in an expanding hereditary cancer market, diversifying its product portfolio through the introduction of new products and increasing the revenue contribution from international markets. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company's website: www.myriad.com.
Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, EndoPredict, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice HRD, Vectra DA, GeneSight, EndoPredict and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G
Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to related to Myriad’s continued and demonstrated commitment to hereditary cancer risk assessment and genetic testing during Colon Cancer Awareness Month; Myriad’s collaboration with Fight Colorectal Cancer; Myriad’s sponsorship of the #StrongArmSelfie social media campaign; and the Company’s strategic directives under the caption “About Myriad Genetics.” These “forward-looking statements” are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those described or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that sales and profit margins of our existing molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services may decline or will not continue to increase at historical rates; risks related to our ability to transition from our existing product portfolio to our new tests; risks related to changes in the governmental or private insurers’ reimbursement levels for our tests or our ability to obtain reimbursement for our new tests at comparable levels to our existing tests; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services tests and any future tests are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire, including but not limited to our acquisition of Assurex, Sividon and the Clinic; risks related to our projections about the potential market opportunity for our products; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decision in the lawsuit brought against us by the Association for Molecular Pathology et al; risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; the risk that we may be unable to comply with financial operating covenants under our credit or lending agreements; the risk that we will be unable to pay, when due, amounts due under our credit or lending agreements; and other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K.
