Humana, BG Medicine Enroll Over 6,800 Participants

BG Medicine and Humana have enrolled 6,822 Humana members, in a study intended to develop new diagnostics for predicting heart attacks and strokes in months or years before they happen.

Pieter Muntendam, President and CEO of BG Medicine, said: “This is a study of many firsts. It is significant not only because of what we’re studying and seeking to discover, but also because of how we recruited study volunteers in partnership with a prominent health-benefits company. Our study participants are much more representative of the population at large than participants in many other large-scale studies, and we will be able to obtain rich, detailed data about our participants.”

Carol McCall, Vice President of R&D for Humana, said: “There is an increasing gap between what research is teaching academic scientists and the real world of clinical medicine. With pioneering studies such as this one, BG Medicine and Humana are employing a new approach to research – with the help of our health-plan members who volunteer to find solutions that can provide better medical care for lower costs.”

Humana members in Chicago and South Florida were eligible to participate in the study, which was open to Humana members aged 55 to 80 for men and 60 to 80 for women.