AstraZeneca enters into agreements with Belgian laboratories to cover INAMI/RIZIV non-reimbursable therapy-oriented EGFR testing costs

Since August 1st 2017 the Belgian health insurance INAMI (FR)/RIZIV (NL) reimburses the cost of one epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation test per year for non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients presenting with non-squamous cell histology. Despite this development, other NSCLC patients are still regularly tested in the clinical practice for therapeutic purposes, which incurs in additional costs not reimbursable by RIZIV.

To bridge this reimbursement gap, AstraZeneca has entered into agreements with most Belgian EGFR testing labs to cover additional therapy-oriented EGFR testing costs currently excluded from the conditional national reimbursement scheme. Under this agreement, laboratories can now charge these additional fees to AstraZeneca, in particular under the following circumstances:

1. When performing multiple additional EGFR mutation tests on new samples from the same patient if previous analyses were not conclusive. For example, testing new blood samples or a solid tissue biopsy after a negative T790M mutation result has been obtained in a plasma circulating cell-free DNA analysis.

2. When performing EGFR mutation tests in NSCLC patients in whom an adenocarcinoma component cannot be excluded and for whom certain clinical characteristics (e.g. female gender, young age, non-smoking status and Asian ethnicity) suggest a high probability of EGFR mutations.

Other EGFR mutation tests that are run on a periodic basis and do not have a direct therapeutic impact (i.e. monitoring tests) are explicitly excluded from this agreement.

Rudy Hovelinck
Diagnostics Manager AstraZeneca

NS ID : NS ID BE-1508-RD03/2018-LB Local code 295

Rudy Hovelinck obtained a scientific degree first in biochemistry at Ghent University and later in Molecular Biology at the ULB. Initially exploring the academic world in diverse fields as genetics, protein chemistry and virology, he soon realised that bridging scientific knowledge to the medical world was a more meaningful way of spending his professional life. This journey started in the field of pathology biomarker testing, introducing HER2 IHC and ISH testing for patient therapy selection and continued in the field of molecular oncology. Today at AstraZeneca he works as a diagnostics manager. In this role he is passionately contributing to the successful introduction of novel biomarkers and support current testing strategies for patient selection. In his own time he enjoys travelling with his family exploring the world and spending time close to nature. Specialties: Oncology, Anatomic Pathology, Biomarker Development, Medical Devices.