BOSTON - Today, the Joint Committee on Financial Services reported legislation to expand access to guideline indicated biomarker testing, favorably out of committee. The bills, S.689 and H.1074, An Act relative to patient access to biomarker testing to provide appropriate therapy, sponsored by Senator Susan Moran and Representative Meg Kilcoyne, would increase access to biomarker testing for Massachusetts patients who need it, ensuring they can receive the right treatment at the right time for their disease.
The following can be attributed to Marc Hymovitz, Massachusetts director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN):
“This favorable report is a great first step towards ensuring more people in Massachusetts have access to biomarker testing. With this medical advancement, patients receive personalized care, specific to their individual disease, that can eliminate unnecessary and costly treatments.
“On behalf of the thousands of residents of the Commonwealth who will be diagnosed with cancer this year, as well as many other serious diseases, ACS CAN urges House and Senate lawmakers to support this bill when it comes up for a vote. By ensuring more people have biomarker testing covered by their insurance plans, we can increase access to personalized medicine and realize better outcomes for cancer patients as well as other disease groups.”
“We are grateful to co-chairs Senator Paul Feeney and Representative James Murphy and members of the committee for their leadership in moving this bill forward. ACS CAN urges the full legislature to follow the committee’s lead in supporting S.689 and H.1074 and work to ensure access to potentially life changing biomarker testing for all patients who would benefit from it.”
