CMS Endorses Combined Pap/HPV Testing, Piper Jaffray Notes (HOLX) (QGEN) (BDX)

Piper Jaffray analyst William Quirk noted that the CMS will cover combined HPV and pap smear testing once every five years, with a screening interval above current pap guidelines (3 years). The news is viewed positive for Hologic (NASDAQ: HOLX), Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN) and Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX).

Quirk commented, "The updated coverage is in-line with USPTF's recommendation to expand pap intervals to five years when combined with HPV testing. We believe CMS' decision will likely further pressure pap volumes. Regarding HPV, CMS' decision is mixed as it will likely increase the attachment rate with pap smear, offset by interval expansion. Overall, we believe interval expansion could represent a ~$44M and ~$15M long-term headwind to HOLX's ThinPrep and HPV businesses, respectively, ~$15M to QGEN's HPV and ~$8M to BDX's SurePath."

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