Cigna to cover Avedro’s corneal cross-linking procedure

Avedro announced that 50 commercial insurance plans now cover its FDA-approved corneal cross-linking procedure, including Cigna, which covers the Photrexa drug formulations and the KLX System used to treat progressive keratoconus.

“In the past year, market access to FDA-approved corneal cross-linking has increased substantially,” Mary Prudden, director of the National Keratoconus Foundation, said in the press release from Avedro. “This encouraging progress will tremendously help patients who are struggling with progressive keratoconus.”

In addition, Avedro has announced that Tim Homer has been appointed vice president of health policy and market access. In this role, he will lead Avedro’s health policy, reimbursement and government relations activities, according to the release.

“We are particularly pleased with the momentum we are seeing among commercial payers and CMS’ preliminary decision to grant a product-specific J code for our Photrexa drug formulations,” Reza Zadno, PhD, CEO of Avedro, said in the release. “Working closely with our executive leadership team, Tim will lead our efforts to broadly communicate the value of corneal cross-linking.”

Combined with other health plans that initiated coverage of corneal cross-linking procedures, including Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield, 133 million lives are now covered.

For more information and an updated list of plans with coverage visit: www.livingwithkeratoconus.com.