New Study Provides Personalized Breast Cancer Risk Information for Women with ATM Gene Mutations

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a spotlight poster discussion at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN), a global leader in molecular diagnostics and precision medicine, today presented a new study that shows how its myRisk^® Hereditary Cancer and riskScore^® tests can better inform individualized clinical screening and prevention strategies for women at risk of developing breast cancer. The new Myriad study highlights how riskScore, a proprietary tool used to evaluate a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, can accurately provide breast cancer risk information into a personalized assessment model for women carrying a pathogenic variant (PV) in the ATM gene. 

“This new study will enable a highly personalized risk calculation for patients who carry mutations in the ATM gene,” said Nicole Lambert, president of Myriad Genetic Laboratories. “As a result, women carrying gene mutations will be able to make more informed choices about how to manage their risk; if increased surveillance is sufficient or if they would consider surgical options.”

Myriad’s riskScore test combines data from 20 years of genome-wide association studies with a validated algorithm that uses personal and family history. riskScore is performed in conjunction with Myriad’s myRisk Hereditary Cancer test, where myRisk identifies people who carry specific cancer-linked genetic mutations.

A summary of the study is below. Follow Myriad on Twitter via @myriadgenetics and keep up to date with SABCS meeting news and updates by using the #SACBS20 hashtag.

riskScore Poster at SABCS

Title: Development of a breast cancer risk assessment model for ATM mutation carriers incorporating Tyrer-Cuzick and a polygenic risk score

Program Number: PD10-09

Session Title: Spotlight Poster Discussion 10

This study highlights the development of a comprehensive breast cancer risk model for ATM PV carriers incorporating an 86-variant PRS, along with family history and clinical information captured by Tyrer-Cuzick (a tool used to calculate the risk of breast cancer). The study found that with ATM PV carriers (N=216), a comprehensive model allowed for differentiation of carriers into low, moderate, and high breast cancer risk categories (See figure 1 below).

To view Figure 1. Remaining Lifetime Risk for ATM PV Carriers, please visit the following link: 

About riskScore

riskScore is a clinically validated personalized medicine tool that enhances Myriad’s myRisk Hereditary Cancer test.  riskScore helps to further predict a women’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer using clinical risk factors and genetic markers throughout the genome. The test incorporates data from more than 80 single nucleotide polymorphisms identified through 20 years of genome wide association studies in breast cancer and was prospectively validated in our laboratory to predict breast cancer risk in women of European descent. This data is then combined with a personal history and family history algorithm, the Tyrer-Cuzick model, to provide an individualized breast cancer risk assessment. Myriad is committed to advancing the validation of risk-assessment tools and making them available to all women, regardless of ancestry.

About Myriad myRisk Hereditary Cancer

The Myriad myRisk Hereditary Cancer test uses an extensive number of sophisticated technologies and proprietary algorithms to evaluate 35 clinically significant genes associated with eight hereditary cancer sites including: breast, colon, ovarian, endometrial, pancreatic, prostate and gastric cancers and melanoma.

About Myriad Genetics

Myriad Genetics Inc., is a leading personalized medicine company dedicated to being a trusted advisor transforming patient lives worldwide with pioneering molecular diagnostics. Myriad discovers and commercializes molecular diagnostic tests that: determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across six major medical specialties where molecular diagnostics can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. Myriad is focused on three strategic imperatives: transitioning and expanding its hereditary cancer testing markets, diversifying its product portfolio through the introduction of new products and increasing the revenue contribution from international markets. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company's website: .

Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice CDx, Vectra, Prequel, Foresight, GeneSight, riskScore and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to the Company building ATM status into a clinically validated risk assessment tool that will create a more comprehensive, highly personalized report for patients seeking to understand their risk of developing breast cancer; and the Company’s strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad Genetics." These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including its possible effects on our operations and the demand for our products and services; our ability to efficiently and flexibly manage our business amid uncertainties related to COVID-19; the risk that sales and profit margins of our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services may decline; risks related to our ability to transition from our existing product portfolio to our new tests, including unexpected costs and delays; risks related to decisions or changes in governmental or private insurers’ reimbursement levels for our tests or our ability to obtain reimbursement for our new tests at comparable levels to our existing tests; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and any future tests and services are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities and our healthcare clinic; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire; risks related to our projections about our business, results of operations and financial condition; risks related to the potential market opportunity for our products and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents or other intellectual property; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decisions in Mayo Collab. Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014); risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; the risk that we may be unable to comply with financial operating covenants under our credit or lending agreements; the risk that we will be unable to pay, when due, amounts due under our credit or lending agreements; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.