Pillcheck covers over 70% of prescription drugs routinely used to treat a wide range of medical conditions. Because a person’s genetics don’t change over time, Pillcheck can be referenced throughout life, whenever new medications are considered. Below are the number of drugs reported by area of treatment.

Cheek swab sample collection can be completed at the patient’s home and mailed to the lab via a prepaid return envelope.

Pillcheck samples are currently processed at the Dynacare lab in Laval, Quebec.  This lab has the following accreditations:

1. ISO 15189:  International accreditation for Medical laboratories
2. COLA is a medical lab accreditation demonstrating compliance with CLIA requirements (US federal regulations governing the operation of medical laboratories). www.cola.org. Of note, CLIA is an American certification that is needed only for serving US customers, and CLIA does not apply in Canada.

Pillcheck bioinformatics system was independently validated by several clinical diagnostic laboratories in US, Canada and EU.

The Pillcheck genotyping panel is optimized to maximize sensitivity and specificity, and to ensure accurate results for the ethnically diverse population in Canada by including multiple ethnic-specific alleles.

Many insurance plans cover Pillcheck under extended healthcare benefits. Patients may be required to submit a physician requisition or prescription for Pillcheck in order to be eligible for reimbursement. Patients should check with their plan for more details about eligibility and coverage requirements. Pillcheck does not currently adjudicate billings and reimbursement on behalf of the patient.

Pillcheck reports on medications with FDA drug labeling information and established clinical guidelines from the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC). The FDA drug labeling guidelines contain information on genomic biomarkers and mainly describe:

• Drug exposure and clinical response variability
• Risk for adverse events
• Genotype-specific dosing