First-of-its-kind collaboration seeks to provide genetic insights to
medical examiners and families of victims of sudden death in the young
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Invitae
Corporation (NYSE:
NVTA), a genetic information company, today announced that it has
entered into a collaboration with the Sudden Death in the Young (SDY)
Case Registry, the first ever active surveillance effort designed to
increase understanding of the prevalence, causes and risk factors for
sudden death in the young. The Registry is funded by the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Data Coordinating
Center is at the Michigan
Public Health Institute (MPHI); and the SDY Biorepository is at the University
of Michigan (UM). Invitae is providing comprehensive diagnostic
arrhythmia genetic testing to the Registry on autopsy negative cases as
in-kind services in collaboration with MPHI and UM.
The SDY Case Registry creates a surveillance system to identify cases of
sudden death in the young, defined as up to age 20. Cases may include
sudden cardiac death, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), and
sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) as well as others. Through MPHI,
local medical examiners and review teams submit information and samples
for DNA on cases. The Registry is being administered in 10 areas of the
country, including the city of San Francisco, Delaware, Georgia,
Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee, the Tidewater
Region of Virginia, and ten selected counties in Wisconsin.
“Working on the SDY Case Registry will allow for the most clinically
relevant and actionable information to be provided back to participating
families. If a genetic diagnosis is made, the relatives of these
individuals are at high risk, up to 50%, of also carrying the genetic
alteration, so early diagnosis is key to allow for evaluation and
intervention before the patient’s relative also presents with sudden
death,” said Robert Nussbaum, MD, chief medical officer of Invitae and
an attending physician in the Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic at UCSF.
“The SDY Case Registry is an opportunity to collaborate with medical
examiners to determine how many cases of unexplained sudden death are
due to a genetic, cardiovascular disorder and to explore best practices
of integrating genetic testing into routine autopsy practice to assist
in determining cause of death.”
Through this collaboration, the local medical examiner will now be able
to order an Invitae comprehensive arrhythmia test in autopsy negative
cases where the cause of death can't be determined and consent for
diagnostic genetic testing is obtained by grantees in accordance with
MPHI and state local institutional review boards. Invitae has agreed to
provide diagnostic genetic testing services for 900 autopsy negative SDY
Registry cases over a three-year period.
"We are thrilled to partner with Invitae on providing genetic testing to
the SDY cases that are autopsy negative. We have heard from the medical
examiner community throughout this project that this is an important
tool that they need to better investigate these deaths, and this
innovative private/public partnership will help meet that need,” said
Theresa M. Covington, MPH, Director of the National
Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths as well as the
SDY Data Coordinating Center. “Invitae's generous donation is a major
contribution to the Registry and the families that it serves."
Invitae recently announced that it has expanded its cardiology
test menu to include more than 30 test panels, representing more
than 190 carefully curated genes. Expanded
test panels include tests for genes highly relevant to diagnosing an
underlying cause of autopsy negative sudden death in the young, such as
various types of genetic arrhythmias, as well as panels for other forms
of cardiovascular disease including cardiomyopathies, aortopathies,
familial hypercholesterolemia, pulmonary hypertension, and congenital
heart disease.
About Invitae
Invitae Corporation's (NYSE: NVTA) mission is to bring comprehensive
genetic information into mainstream medical practice to improve the
quality of healthcare for billions of people. Invitae’s goal is to
aggregate most of the world’s genetic tests into a single service with
higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower price than many
single-gene and panel tests today. The company currently provides a
single diagnostic service comprising hundreds of genes for a variety of
genetic disorders associated with oncology, cardiology, neurology,
pediatrics and other rare disease areas.
For more information, visit our website at ir.invitae.com
and follow us on Twitter: @invitae
and @invitaeIR.
Safe Harbor Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements relating to the potential benefits of this genetic
testing to clinicians and relatives of the victims of SDY, and the
ability of the company to bring comprehensive genetic information into
mainstream medical practice to improve the quality of healthcare for
billions of people. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and
reported results should not be considered as an indication of future
performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited
to: the ability of clinical results to affect treatment decisions; risks
associated with the company’s ability to use rapidly changing genetic
data to interpret test results accurately and consistently; laws and
regulations applicable to the company’s business, including potential
regulation by the Food and Drug Administration; and the other risks set
forth in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the risks set forth in the company’s Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Invitae
Corporation disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking
statements.

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Source: Invitae Corporation