Assurex Health has joined The Alliance network, which serves more than 200 employers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

(Photo: Cincinnati Enquirer/Leigh Taylor)

Assurex Health, the personalized medicine startup based in Mason, announced on Thursday that it’s joined The Alliance network, which serves more than 200 employers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

The coverage will increase patient access to Assurex’s GeneSight pharmacogenomic test, which helps doctors prescribe the right medication for depression, ADHD or chronic pain. Assurex, which was spun out of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 2006, says it has tested more than 75,000 patients to date.

Its local investors include Allos Ventures, CincyTech and Blue Chip Venture Co., andthe company closed a $7 million funding round in the first quarter.

Assurex is particularly focused on helping patients with depression, which approximately 30 million Americans suffer from, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Studies show only half of Americans get onto a genetically suitable medication the first time they’re prescribed an antidepressant or antipsychotic. Until recently, lack of specific information about individual patients has kept doctors from being able to pinpoint which drugs would be most effective based on their metabolism.

Assurex extracts and analyzes DNA from cheek swabs, and within 36 hours sends a report through a secure portal to doctors, detailing which medications are most likely to be effective for individual patients, based on his or her genes.

Source: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/josh-pichler/2014/04/24/assurex-health-cincytech/8122133/