Myriad Genetics’ adjusted blood test Vectra DA outshouts typical measures in predicting new joint damage in RA patients

Myriad Genetics’ study results on development of the adjusted Vectra DA, announced Wednesday, found it outperforming typical measures of disease activity in predicting new joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The results published in the journal Rheumatology concluded that Leptin-adjusted multi-biomarker disease activity score significantly adds information to DAS28-CRP and the original MBDA score in predicting radiographic progression. It may offer improved clinical utility for personalized management of RA.

Jerry Lanchbury, Myriad Genetics’ chief scientific officer, explained how the adjusted Vectra score was the strongest individual predictor of new radiographic joint damage over one year in patients with RA. He pointed out that in the analyses, the adjusted Vectra DA score was three times more predictive of radiographic joint damage than DAS28-CRP and five times more predictive than DAS28 and was significantly better than other disease activity measures commonly used by clinicians today.

The company in its press release said that this large study included a cohort of more than 300,000 commercially tested patients with RA and 1,411 RA patients from a clinical trial/registry cohort. An adjusted Vectra DA score was developed to account for three factors known to impact inflammation: age, gender, and degree of adiposity proxied either by serum leptin level or body mass index (BMI).  In addition, the adjusted Vectra scores were evaluated for their ability to predict radiographic progression (RP) and compared with other disease activity measures, including DAS28, DAS28-CRP, SDAI, and CDAI.

Elena Hitraya, chief medical officer at Myriad Autoimmune, said: “The Vectra test allows one to identify patients with a high degree of inflammatory activity, which can lead to join damage progression. This study showed that the adjusted Vectra score significantly improved ability to predict radiographic progression and thus, it provides valuable information to clinicians that they can incorporate into the individual patient treatment plans”.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that mainly attacks the body’s joints, leading to significant morbidity and financial burden.  About 60% of people with inadequately treated RA are unable to work 10 years after onset. The American College of Rheumatology estimates that RA affects 1.3 million people in the United States.

Vectra DA is a Crescendo Biosciences core product, a quantitative, protein-based test to routinely assess rheumatoid arthritis disease activity and provide rheumatologists with expanded clinical insights to more effectively treat their patients. Myriad Genetics bought autoimmune diagnostics company Crescendo for $270million, in 2014.