27 June 2016 – Launch of MyNIPT™ Online Portal for the IONA® test

Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Monday, 27 June 2016

Launch of MyNIPT™ Online Portal for the IONA® test

Manchester, UK – 27 June 2016 – Premaitha Health PLC (AIM: NIPT), developer of the IONA® test, the leading CE-marked complete non-invasive prenatal screening system, announces the launch of MyNIPT™ at the 15th World Congress of Fetal Medicine in Palma, Mallorca. MyNIPT™ is Premaitha’s new online test result and data exchange portal for clinicians and laboratories which enables the exchange of patient results easily and securely between the labs and the clinician and further enhances the IONA® test complete screening solution.

The MyNIPT™ portal is a customer-focused tool developed by Premaitha to enable labs and healthcare professionals to follow the processing status of their samples, respond to queries from the lab and to receive the results easily and securely. High risk results are highlighted in the portal and a notification is sent to alert the clinic that a high risk result has occurred. The portal has the capability to monitor and track pregnancy outcomes, which is essential for auditing and monitoring.

It is a web-based system with an intuitive and simple user interface which can be accessed by most browsers on both fixed and mobile devices. This ensures that busy healthcare professionals get the results they need quickly and conveniently, making the most of the very fast turnaround time of just 3 days for the IONA® test. Of course, security is of the highest priority when delivering test results which is why clinicians will have access only to their own patients’ sample results, using their unique login and password to access the system which has both in-transit and at-rest encryption.  

The IONA® test was launched in 2015 and is the leading CE-marked complete system which estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down’s syndrome or other genetic conditions. The IONA® test is performed on the mother’s blood sample – which contains traces of fetal DNA – and then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology.

“The MyNIPT™ portal enables clinicians to gain online, secure and rapid access to test results, to generate PC-based test request forms and make test-related queries – all electronically tagged to patient records,” said Professor Basky Thilaganathan, Head of Fetal Medicine at St George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which uses the IONA® test under its SAFE test brand.

“The effect is to allow seamless tracking and trouble-free interaction between clinics and the laboratory resulting in increased productivity for the end user. Regardless of what medical information is being communicated, an internet portal should make a service easier and more efficient for both the provider and clinician. Premaitha’s MyNIPT™ portal does precisely that for the St George’s SAFE test laboratory service,” continued Professor Thilaganathan.

For more information, please contact:

Premaitha Health plc    
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Officer    
Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing    
Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865
iona@premaitha.com
     
Vigo Communications    
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7830 9700    
premaitha@vigocomms.com

About Premaitha

Premaitha is a molecular diagnostics company which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved non-invasive screening tests for pregnant women.

Premaitha’s lead test – the IONA® test – was launched in February 2015 and is the leading CE marked complete system which estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down’s syndrome or other genetic conditions. The IONA® test is performed on the mother’s blood sample – which contains traces of fetal DNA – and then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology from ThermoFisher Scientific.

Unlike existing prenatal screening methods, due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary stressful and invasive follow up diagnostic procedures which are costly, resource intensive and carry a risk of miscarriage.

Non-invasive prenatal screening is an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market and Premaitha’s complete CE Marked system enables laboratories and health care practitioners to offer an approved, non-invasive prenatal screening system in-house.  

Premaitha is based in Manchester Science Park, United Kingdom and its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT). For further information please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.