Mississippi's Medicaid program adds coverage for Aerocrine's FeNO testing in asthma management following a new ATS guideline

January 11, 2012 at 09:20 pm IST

MarketScreener.com By

Aerocrine AB (OMX Nordic Exchange: AERO) today announced that Mississippi's Medicaid program adds FeNO reimbursement coverage, making 29 states plus the District of Columbia covering this cost-effective test for managing asthma.

The state of Mississippi has included fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) testing to the Medicaid fee schedule and will provide coverage and reimbursement of CPT code 95012 Nitric oxide expired gas determination effective January 1, 2012. The policy change will have a positive effect on thousands of patients in Mississippi.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that affects more than 300 million people worldwide, many of whom are children. FeNO is a marker of the underlying airway inflammation associated with asthma, and Aerocrine has developed a method to quickly measure this inflammation. Using a simple, quantitative and cost-effective test, physicians can obtain information about the patient's airway inflammation within two minutes.

"The use of exhaled nitric oxide is a tool that will help us gain control of our patients' asthma symptoms and return them to a normal and active lifestyle quicker than before," said J. Marc Majure, M.D., chief, pediatric pulmonary diseases, Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital. "I applaud the Medicaid system for recognizing FeNO's utility in improving the quality of life for Mississippians with asthma and for recognizing that it will be a cost-saving measure in the long run by allowing us to be better stewards of our Medicaid dollars."

Recently, the leading U.S. professional and scientific society for respiratory diseases, the American Thoracic Society, published a clinical practice guideline on the use and interpretation of FeNO in asthma management. ATS guidelines are written to provide health care professionals with the latest standards of care to ensure high-quality patient care and management. This ATS guideline specifically recommends the use of FeNO to:

- Diagnose the inflammation causing the most common type of asthma, as well as to provide objective information to improve the diagnosis of asthma

- Determine whether patients with chronic respiratory symptoms will respond to corticosteroid treatment, the most commonly used anti-inflammatory medicine

- Monitor airway inflammation in patients with asthma and to monitor patients' adherence to prescribed corticosteroid therapy

"The quality of evidence in the literature, in combination with the ATS guideline, is the reason insurance plans are now reviewing their policies," said Dr. Kathy Rickard of Aerocrine. "For any patient with asthma, and specifically when it comes to children, steroid therapy should be used when it is needed, and the most cost-effective way to test for airway inflammation and the need for steroids is with Aerocrine's NIOX MINO FeNO device."

"To now have a biomarker available that informs both the patient and physician about the best way to provide care is a significant advancement toward helping the patient gain and maintain control of their asthma," said Stuart Stoloff, M.D., immediate past chairman of the board of directors of Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics.

About Aerocrine

Aerocrine AB is a medical technology company focused on the improved management and care of patients with inflammatory airway diseases. As the pioneer and leader in technology to monitor and manage airway inflammation, Aerocrine markets NIOX MINO^® and NIOX Flex^®. Both products enable fast and reliable management of airway inflammation and may therefore play a critical role in more effective diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients with inflammatory airway diseases such as asthma. Aerocrine is based in Sweden with subsidiaries in the U.S., Germany and the U.K. Aerocrine shares were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 2007.

Aerocrine may be required to disclose the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 8:00 a.m. on January 11, 2012.