Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Premaitha announces tenth customer laboratory
Manchester, UK – 29 March 2016: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT, “Premaitha” or the “Company”), announces that its French distributor, AdGeniX, has signed an agreement to offer the Company’s IONA® test from a second laboratory in France. The new laboratory, Premaitha’s tenth such facility, will offer non-invasive prenatal testing for the first time, and will be located in central France to act as a regional hub.
Premaitha is the developer of the leading CE-marked non-invasive prenatal screening system. Launched in 2015, the IONA® test is a complete system which analyses traces of fetal DNA circulating in the mother’s blood stream to estimate the risk of a fetus being affected with Down’s syndrome and other genetic conditions. Due to its high degree of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of pregnant women who are unnecessarily subjected to a stressful follow up invasive procedure. These follow up procedures are both costly and resource intensive and present a risk to the fetus.
“With one lab already live in France and the second expected to be operational in the second quarter this year, the IONA® test is making it easier for women in France to access a safe and accurate test for prenatal screening,” commented Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha. “With an estimated 800,000 births a year, France is an important market for Premaitha. Following today’s agreement, we now have ten customer laboratories offering the IONA® test in the UK and internationally, which is a significant milestone in our first year since the IONA® test was launched, and also creates very strong foundations for future growth.”
For more information, please contact:
Premaitha Health plc
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Office
Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing
investors@premaitha.com
Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7148 7900
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker)
Robert Naylor (Corporate Finance) / Maisie Rose Atkinson (Sales)
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
finnCap (Joint Broker)
Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson (Corporate Finance)
Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking)
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
Vigo Communications
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson
premaitha@vigocomms.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7830 9700
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.
