Foundation One Testing Covered By Med... - Advanced Prostate...

Advanced Prostate Cancer

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Foundation One Testing Covered By Medicare?

Daddysdaughter profile image
6 Replies

My father had testing through foundation one and We had to sign a release form that we would pay out of pocket if Medicare didn’t pay for it. These tests are $3500...

Who has found it beneficial to pay for these tests? Has anyone been in this situation where it wasn’t covered?

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Daddysdaughter profile image
Daddysdaughter
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6 Replies
Daddysdaughter profile image
Daddysdaughter

Perfect 👌🏻

paulofaus profile image
paulofaus

Hey Guys, I'm interested in getting a Foundation One somatic (from tumor) test done. I had a genetic test from a blood sample which came up empty, but I believe they only checked for 12 common genetic mutations. Being in Australia, I imagine I will need to get a sample of prostate cancer tissue extracted and sent to them by courier, in some sort of 'cold storage'. Has anyone else been through that?

vandy69 profile image
vandy69

I am on Medicare and mine was also covered. Genetic defects identified do not always have any current treatments.

Best wishes. Never Give In.

Mark, Atlanta

If PSA is going up, that means that at least a portion of the prostate cancer cells that are alive and growing also create PSA. The "neuro-endocrine" type don't do that. So at least some of the living prostate cells are the normal kind. The could be growing in number, each one producing more PSA, or the prostate could be leaking more. I think those are all the possibilities for cells that create PSA; ie the cells that have you worried.

As for the neuroendocrine variation, that you say Kwon says you may have, how do you track those? Or maybe you don't........

In any case the most fashionable treatment, and promising, seems to be the PSMA guided therapies. J591 guidance to PSMA (a PSMA binding antibody) is fading in favor of using a small(er) molecule as guidance, and either having the payload of 177Lu.

Someone must have mentioned this to you already, no?

Trials in NYC at Weil Cornell, and at UCLA.

Someone recently posted that there are trials in Texas as well, but I dont know about that. Next year they will be "all over" the place.

Daddysdaughter profile image
Daddysdaughter in reply to

Hi yes, we are waiting for results to determine if it’s neuroendocrine, Kwon, said it appears to be on scan and because my father has a low PSA at that time with a significant amount of soft tissue metastasis he assumes it was - and we followed his recommendations to do a platinum based chemo. My father failed chemo as well, shortly after we went to cedar Sinai and the MO there said it doesn’t look like NEPC but they sent biopsy for verification. After chemo his PSA went from 23 (3/16/2018) to 80 (4/9/2018) and then to 98 on (4/27/2018) -CT scan shows bone Mets to spine and pelvis. my father started Zytiga on 4/29/2018) and just yesterday after being on it for 13 days his PSA dropped to 59.

Daddysdaughter profile image
Daddysdaughter in reply toDaddysdaughter

For now we are trying Zytiga because it has been the only treatment that has worked to bring down his PSA in the last 18 months. My back up plan if and when Zytiga fails ( hopefully never ) will be Heidelberg Germany for PSMA 177Lu, i have also inquired here At UCLA.

Thank you

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