Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Premaitha files robust defence with UK’s High Court in response to alleged infringement of NIPT patents
Manchester, UK – 5 May 2015 – Premaitha Health plc (“Premaitha”, AIM: NIPT) announces that it has filed a robust defence and counterclaim in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court in the United Kingdom in connection with the patent infringement suit filed on 16 March 2015 by Illumina, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Verinata Health Inc.
The patents in question are European Patent (UK) 0 994 963 B2 and European Patent (UK) 1 981 995 B1.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha, said, “We have looked at the legal position very carefully and, in our view, the claims are without substance.
“Within the UK and globally, it is vitally important that both expectant mothers and health care authorities have the freedom to make appropriate and informed choices. We believe our best-in-class IONA® test enables this choice to be made.”
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About Premaitha Health plc
Premaitha Health (AIM: NIPT) 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 CE marked product for prenatal screening enabling clinical laboratories to offer a regulated NIPT in-house.
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 AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Premaitha is ISO 13485 certified and 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.
For more information, please contact:
Premaitha Health plc
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Officer
Joanne Cross, Marketing Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865
+44 (0) 7736 843052
Email: investors@premaitha.com
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7148 7900
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Broker)
Robert Naylor / Freddy Crossley / Maisie Rose Atkinson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Instinctif Partners (Media)
Melanie Toyne Sewell / Jen Lewis / Emma Barlow
Tel: +44 (0) 207 457 2020
Email: premaitha@instinctif.com
