Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Thursday, 6 November 2014
Premaitha Health (‘Premaitha’) (AIM: NIPT), an innovative molecular diagnostics company bringing advantages in Next Generation DNA sequencing to non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), today announces the appointment of Yves Derveaux as Regional European Sales Consultant for Southern Europe as it prepares for the launch of the IONA® test.
The IONA® test estimates the risk of a fetus having Trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards’ syndrome) and Trisomy 13 (Patau’s syndrome) based on analysis of cell-free fetal DNA isolated from a sample of the mother’s blood, and is Premaitha’s lead product. At launch, it will be the first complete CE-marked IVD product and will enable clinical laboratories to offer regulated NIPT in-house for the first time.
With over 20 years’ experience in sales and marketing in the diagnostics industry, Yves Derveaux will support Chief Commercial Officer Peter Collins, who was previously Vice President, Head of Diagnostics at GlaxoSmithKline, in leading business development for the IONA® test in Southern Europe, with a focus on France. Prior to Premaitha, he was France Sales and Marketing Manager and Southern Europe Sales at Epigenomics A.G., and was previously at Agendia. Yves specialises in working alongside KOLs, medical societies, health authorities, governmental bodies and distributors, and has an MSc in Immunology and Microbiology.
Premaitha is planning to make further appointments to strengthen its sales capabilities in central Europe, and to expand its team of technical product specialists in Manchester. When it listed on AIM in July 2014, Premaitha employed 13 full time members of staff. The Company has expanded significantly since and, following the new commercial appointments anticipates that headcount will more than double to around 50 employees by the end of 2014.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO, Premaitha said: “This is a ground-breaking, first of its kind product that will enable clinical laboratories to offer pregnant women, their families and their doctors the results that they need to make informed decisions about a pregnancy. We now have a world-class commercial team and leading facilities in place to ensure that when the IONA® test is launched any lab in Europe that wants to offer CE-marked NIPT is able to do so.”
About Premaitha Health
Premaitha Health (AIM: NIPT) is an innovative molecular diagnostics company bringing advantages in Next Generation DNA sequencing to non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Premaitha’s flagship product, the IONA® test is the first non-invasive in vitro diagnostic product for prenatal screening, enabling clinical laboratories to offer CE-marked NIPT in-house for the first time.
The IONA® test estimates the risk of the fetus having Trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards’ syndrome) and Trisomy 13 (Patau’s syndrome). The IONA® test is a complete diagnostic system that is simple and standardised, enabling Premaitha’s clinical laboratory customers to perform the test in their laboratory, using existing clinical workflow.
The IONA® test has a higher detection rate and lower false positive rate giving pregnant women, their families and their doctors’ greater confidence in the result thereby reducing the need for unnecessary invasive follow-up tests and the associated anxiety and stress. Premaitha’s strategy aims to accelerate the broad dissemination of advanced NIPT tests to benefit more laboratories, doctors and pregnant women.
Premaitha is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Its R&D, manufacturing and commercial operation is located on the Manchester Science Park, UK.
Visit www.premaitha.com for more information about the Company and the IONA® test.
Enquiries:
Instinctif Partners
Corporate media relations
Sue Charles
Jen Lewis
Emma Barlow
Tel: +44 (0) 1260 296 500
E: premaitha@instinctif.com
Premaitha Health plc
Joanne Cross, Marketing Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 7736 843052
E: investors@premaitha.com
