WHEREAS:	Precision medicine is an emerging model within the healthcare field that seeks to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes by tailoring therapies to the unique characteristics of each patient; and
WHEREAS:	Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) is a new diagnostic test available to cancer patients that precisely identifies the underlying changes in a patient's DNA or RNA that are causing cancer cell growth; and
WHEREAS:	CGP is generally used for desperately ill patients with advanced cancer diseases, making the need even more urgent for Medicare coverage of a diagnostic tool that can identify all available treatment options quickly and accurately; and
WHEREAS:	CGP enables physicians to consider the use of targeted therapies that are often more effective at treating cancer and leave patients with fewer side effects, and result in lower costs and better outcomes; and
WHEREAS:	CGP will help the field of oncology transition to a precision medicine approach; and
WHEREAS:	Foundation Medicine, Inc. (FMI) is a biotechnology company based in the City of Cambridge, employees approximately 400 people, performs CGP tests in its Cambridge lab, and provides the only CGP test currently commercially available; and
WHEREAS:	The regional Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), National Government Services (NGS), must approve CGP tests before they can be covered by Medicare, and although other regional MACs have approved CGP tests, Medicare patients nationwide cannot receive coverage until the regional MAC for FMI's Cambridge laboratory, NGS, approves Medicare coverage guidelines for cancer patients that include coverage for CGP; and
WHEREAS:	Greater than 80% of all Medicare recipients across the country with non-small cell lung cancer present with Stage IIIb/IV disease at initial diagnosis, and it accounts for more than 70% of all deaths among lung cancer patients over the age of 65 possibly including our families, friends, and neighbors, who would access and benefit from CGP soon after it is covered; now therefore be it
ORDERED:	That the City Council go on record in support of expanding access to CGP tests, including research of similar companies, to Medicare patients in Cambridge and nationwide; and be it further
ORDERED:	That the City Council go on record requesting that NGS expedite its Local Coverage Determination review and establish Medicare coverage for CGPs.