Premaitha Health PLC AGM Statement (3931U)

TIDMNIPT

RNS Number : 3931U

Premaitha Health PLC

24 October 2017

Premaitha Health PLC

("Premaitha" or the "Company" or the "Group")

AGM Statement

Manchester, UK - 24 October 2017: Premaitha Health PLC (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group focused on non-invasive prenatal testing ("NIPT"), will be holding its Annual General Meeting at 2:00 p.m. today.

At the meeting, Adam Reynolds, Non-executive Chairman, will make the following statement:

"I am pleased to chair Premaitha's 2017 annual general meeting. As I stated in our recent results update, I am delighted with the commercial progress made in the financial year ended 31 March 2017, as well as in the first half of the current financial year. Following the acquisition of Yourgene Bioscience, which completed in March 2017, the enlarged Group is growing revenues, increasing test volumes and developing expanded capabilities across a much broader geographic area. Our recent Middle East update further demonstrated our ability to secure business in territories where technical excellence and customer focus are paramount to gaining competitive advantage, and we have a strong pipeline of similar opportunities.

"The UK litigation continues to be a distraction, with an initial ruling anticipated before the end of the year. In the meantime, we will continue to pursue our strategy of geographic and product diversification, coupled with a sharp focus on achieving profitability within the current financial year. We believe this strategy will ensure that, whatever the outcome of the UK disputes, Premaitha is a business that will succeed in the rapidly expanding global market for NIPT and clinical genetic testing."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

 
For more information, please contact: 
Premaitha Health PLC                     Tel: +44 (0)161 
 Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive       667 1053 
 Officer 
 Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer 
 Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing 
 [e-mail] 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)     Tel: +44 (0)20 
 Liam Murray / James Caithie              7213 0880 
finnCap (Broker)                         Tel: +44 (0)20 
 Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson        7220 0500 
 (Corporate Finance) 
 Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking) 
Vigo Communications                      Tel: +44 (0)20 
 Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia      7830 9700 
 Pollock 
 [e-mail] 
 

About Premaitha

Premaitha is an international molecular diagnostics group which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved genetic screening tests. The Group's primary focus is on non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for pregnant women - an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market.

Premaitha's IONA(R) test was launched in 2015 as the first CE-IVD NIPT test in Europe. It enables laboratories and healthcare practitioners to offer a complete CE-marked NIPT system in-house. The IONA(R) test is performed on a maternal blood sample - which contains traces of fetal DNA - and estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions.

Unlike existing prenatal screening methods, due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA(R) test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary invasive follow up diagnostic procedures, such as amniocentesis, which are costly, resource intensive and carry a risk of miscarriage.

In March 2017, Premaitha acquired Yourgene Bioscience, a specialist next generation sequencing and bioinformatics company based in Taiwan, with its own NIPT screening test that operates on the same Thermo Fisher next-generation sequencing platform as Premaitha's IONA(R) test. Yourgene brings significant benefits to the Group through expanded market access in Asia - the world's fastest growing NIPT market - as well as opportunities for cross-selling and the ability to jointly develop expanded test content both within NIPT and beyond.

Premaitha is headquartered in Manchester, England, with Yourgene offices in Taipei and Singapore. Its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT). For further information, please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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October 24, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)