Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Friday, 22 May 2015
Premaitha Health wins Medical & Lifescience Award at Insider’s Made in the North West Awards
Manchester, UK – 22 May 2015 – Premaitha Health plc (“Premaitha”, AIM: NIPT) has been awarded the Medical & Lifescience Made in the North West award for its non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), the IONA® test. The awards ceremony, held at the Park Royal Hotel, in Warrington was attended by over 200 people and celebrated the success of the manufacturing industry in the region.
The IONA® test, which is manufactured from Premaitha’s headquarters at Manchester Science Park, estimates the risk of a fetus having Down’s syndrome or other serious genetic diseases. The 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.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO said: “We are honoured to receive this award which recognises both Premaitha’s achievements in the field of prenatal screening, and the importance of choosing to produce the IONA® test in such a strong and diverse manufacturing region. The North West is a great place to start a diagnostics business and we are committed to keeping our products ‘Manchester made’.”
Chris Maguire, Editor of North West Business Insider said: “The quality and quantity of the award winners was excellent and it is impressive to see the wide range of companies which have based their manufacturing operations in this region. What impressed the judges about Premaitha was the potential their testing product has on a global scale. If the North West is to achieve its potential in terms of the Northern Powerhouse it will be on the back of companies like Premaitha. When the company explained a bit about what they did as they collected the award they received a huge round of applause from the audience. That tells you everything you need to know.”
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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
Instinctif Partners (Media relations)
Melanie Toyne Sewell / Jen Lewis / Emma Barlow
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
