Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Wednesday, 2 December 2015
Premaitha establishes the first IONA® testing service in France at LaboSud
Manchester, UK and Montpellier, France – 2 December 2015 – Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT, “Premaitha” or “the Company”) developer of the IONA® test, an advanced cell-free DNA prenatal screening test, has appointed Adgenix as its exclusive distributor in France. There are approximately 820,000 births per annum in France. Adgenix has already signed up its first laboratory customer for Premaitha in France, with a signed contract for a minimum of three years to supply LaboSud with the IONA® test.
LaboSud is a private group of reference laboratories in the Montpellier region of France. It provides medical and diagnostic laboratory services to clinics and hospitals from the Languedoc-Roussillon region with plans to expand its offering to all of France.
The IONA® test estimates the risk of a fetus being affected by Down’s syndrome and other serious genetic conditions by analysing cell-free fetal DNA from a sample of maternal blood, known as non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Premaitha’s test is more sensitive and specific than the current combined test available and provides pregnant women and their families with a more accurate and reliable screening result, helping reduce the need for invasive procedures that carry a risk of a miscarriage.
The IONA® test enables clinical laboratories to be able to offer their own decentralized NIPT in-house service. The blood sample can be analysed in local laboratories, such as LaboSud, rather than having to be shipped outside of France. This allows pregnant women and their healthcare providers to get much faster results, giving them the information they need to make informed decisions in a shorter timeframe, thereby helping to reduce stress and anxiety.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha said: “Securing our first French partnership with LaboSud and Adgenix is an important step forward for us as we continue to expand the reach of the IONA® test across Europe. Our NIPT test provides more accurate and faster results that will benefit more pregnant women in France.
“We look forward to getting the IONA® test up and running at LaboSud with our world class technical support team and training programme. The support of Adgenix as our local distributor has also been a huge benefit in establishing this customer and we hope to continue to develop this and other relationships.”
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For more information, please contact:
Premaitha Health plc
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Officer
Jo Cross, Head of Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865
Email: investors@premaitha.com
joanne.cross@premaitha.com
Adgenix
Ian Jones, President
Tel: +33 139441530
Email: jones@adgenix.fr
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD – Premaitha)
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7148 7900
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Broker – Premaitha)
Robert Naylor / Freddy Crossley / Maisie Rose Atkinson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Instinctif Partners (Media – Premaitha)
Melanie Toyne Sewell / Jen Lewis / Emma Barlow/ Jayne Crook
Tel: +44 (0) 207 457 2020
Email: premaitha@instinctif.com
About Premaitha Health
Premaitha is an innovative molecular diagnostics company employing the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop tests for non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPT) and other applications. 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 a fetus having Down’s syndrome or other serious genetic diseases. The IONA® test has a higher detection rate and lower false positive rate than existing screening tests, giving pregnant women, their families and their doctors greater confidence in the result and reducing the need for unnecessary invasive follow-up tests and the associated anxiety and stress. 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 own facilities. This supports Premaitha’s strategy of accelerating the broad dissemination of NIPT tests to ensure that their benefits are available to pregnant women everywhere.
Premaitha is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM). Its R&D, manufacturing and commercial operation is located at Manchester Science Park, UK. For further information please visit www.premaitha.com or email iona@premaitha.com.
About Adgenix
Adgenix, since 1993, has been a leading molecular diagnostics company in the French cytogenetic area. Formerly known as Vysis before a M.B.O. in 2000. The company has been involved in the successful introduction of several non-invasive in vitro molecular diagnostic F.I.S.H. based products, such as Aneuvysion™.
About LaboSud OCbiologie
The group Labosud Ocbiologie (accreditation COFRAC) is a major laboratory with its base in Montpellier and through its 350 asspociated laboratories covering especially the Languedoc- Roussillon, PACA and Midi-Pyrenees region and also the French market.
Since its cytogenetic and genetic accreditation gained in October 2000 the group has become a leader in the prenatal area and its decision to work with Premaitha highlights the groups unique approach to bringing cutting edge prenatal European technology to the French market.
