Premaitha Health PLC Premaitha to offer NIPT in South Africa (0824R)

TIDMNIPT

RNS Number : 0824R

Premaitha Health PLC

19 September 2017

Premaitha Health PLC

("Premaitha" or the "Company")

Premaitha to offer NIPT in South Africa

Manchester, UK - 19 September 2017: Premaitha Health PLC (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group focused on non-invasive prenatal testing, announces that it has signed an agreement with Ampath group, practising as Drs Du Buisson, Kramer, Swart, Bouwer Inc. ("Ampath") to offer the Company's IONA(R) test in South Africa, where the Company has appointed Barker Medical Pty Ltd ("Barker") as its distributor.

Ampath will install a dedicated non-invasive prenatal testing ("NIPT") centre at its national reference laboratory in Gauteng province, servicing major cities, including Johannesburg. Premaitha believes Ampath will be among the first laboratories in South Africa to offer a CE-IVD accredited NIPT system and will act as a hub, extending services to its national network of clinics and hospitals across the country.

Premaitha's IONA(R) test estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions. The test is performed on a maternal blood sample, containing traces of fetal DNA, which is then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology. The test is highly accurate and significantly reduces the number of women who are unnecessarily subjected to risky, invasive follow up procedures to diagnose Down's syndrome and other genetic conditions.

Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha Health, commented: "We are delighted to announce that the IONA(R) test will be made available to women in South Africa, expanding Premaitha's footprint to another continent. South Africa is another strategically important region as we build our global footprint and further de-risk our business."

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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September 19, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)