UK: Friday 13 June 2014: Molecular Diagnostics Company, Premaitha Health, based in Manchester’s Science Technology Park announces today that it has agreed terms to join ViaLogy plc, an investment company quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Subject to ViaLogy shareholders approval later this month, the enlarged business will be re-named Premaitha Health plc and will become listed company on the London Stock Exchange’s trading platform, AIM; trading in the ordinary shares are expected to commence in July 2014.
Premaitha’s first product, the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test is a prenatal screening test which will be offered to pregnant women to determine the risk that their fetus is affected with Down’s Syndrome or other serious genetic diseases. the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test will be the first regulated CE marked in vitro diagnostic non-invasive prenatal screening product to market; its approach is based on analysis of circulating fetal DNA, this process has both a higher detection rate and a lower false positive rate than existing screening tests. This means that expectant mothers can make better informed choices about their pregnancy without risk to them or their fetus.
Premaitha Health’s executive management team is led by Dr Stephen Little, a successful serial biotechnology entrepreneur who has a proven diagnostic and commercial track record. He has assembled similarly talented and experienced team of individuals with the skills, knowledge and background needed to bring a prenatal screening product to market.
Commenting on today’s news, Dr Stephen Little CEO at Premaitha Health said:
“Our approach is to take early stage discoveries and translate them into clinically useful diagnostic products that can be widely used to benefit human health. As we build and commercialise the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test, we are not only building a valuable in vitro diagnostic product in its own right but also establishing a template for creating valuable diagnostic content on third parties’ next generation sequencing systems.” Dr Little added: “The global market for prenatal testing is estimated at $4.2 billion and this is an exciting phase in our development of the business roll-out so we are looking forward to working with the new team and delivering on our plans for the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test.”
The technology used in the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test will be new to many potential customers. Premaitha is in the process of establishing a demonstration laboratory at its Manchester headquarters. This laboratory will reproduce the complete IONA® Test workflow so that customers can test their own samples and be trained in the process.
The highly qualified team of scientists and technicians at Premaitha are also currently undergoing IONA® Test development and design verification processes; target completion for this stage is by 30 September 2014. The clinical performance and commercialisation testing is then anticipated to be substantially complete by 31 December 2014 with expected commercial launch of the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test to commence January 2015.
The targeted customers for the IONA[ss]®[/ss] test are the estimated 600 laboratories offering prenatal screening within the EMEA region as well as similar labs throughout the rest of the world. Premaitha’s primary channel to market will be through its own direct sales force targeting laboratory directors supported by activities to target and gain support of key opinion leaders. Following the initial launch in Europe, it is the intention to extend sales and marketing activities in to Asia.
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Fiona Tooley, TooleyStreet Communications
Fiona@tooleystreet.com or M: 07785 703 523
For further information: read about us at www.premaitha.com or call +44 (0)161 667 6865 or email us on info@premaitha.com: :Visit our stand at the 13th World Congress in Fetal Medicine 29 June to 3 July 2014 Nice, France http://fetalmedicine.org/fmf-world-congress-1
