Premaitha Health PLC Board Changes (5072T)

TIDMNIPT

RNS Number : 5072T

Premaitha Health PLC

04 July 2018

Premaitha Health plc

("Premaitha" or the "Group")

Board Changes

Manchester, UK - 4 July 2018: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Lyn Rees as Chief Executive Officer and Mr Keng Hsu as Chief Operating Officer (Asia). Dr Stephen Little, currently Chief Executive Officer, will move to the role of Executive Vice Chairman of the Group.

Alan Chang, Non-executive Director, will step down from the board with immediate effect to focus on his other business interests.

Lyn has significant healthcare sector leadership experience, having spent 18 years at the BBI Group, most recently as Group Chief Executive Officer, a position he held for nine years. During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Lyn oversaw the substantial growth of BBI through the execution and integration of a number of acquisitions and by driving an organic growth plan based around product diversification and commercial globalisation.

Lyn's appointment will enable Dr Stephen Little to focus on the Group's continued technological development in his new role, leveraging the Company's existing scientific capabilities and expanding customer base to broaden the Group's product and service portfolio.

Mr Keng Hsu has been appointed to the Group's board as Chief Operating Officer, Asia. Keng was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Yourgene Bioscience prior to its acquisition by Premaitha in March 2017 and, since then, he has played a key role in Premaitha's senior management team and the Group's Asian expansion.

Adam Reynolds, Chairman of Premaitha, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Lyn to Premaitha, during what is a very exciting phase in our development. Lyn's strong track record of driving growth in international markets and securing blue chip partners will be invaluable as we continue to commercialise our technologies. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Steve for his outstanding contribution in building Premaitha to where we are today, with market leading non-invasive prenatal testing solutions in a growing global market. I would also like to thank Alan for his contribution as a Non-executive Director since the acquisition of Yourgene Bioscience and we wish him well in his future endeavours.

"I look forward to working with Steve, Lyn and Keng as we continue to build Premaitha by leveraging our technological capabilities in molecular diagnostics, optimising our routes to market and maximising the Group's international footprint."

The information required to be disclosed in relation to Mr Rees and Mr Hsu in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules") is as outlined below:

Pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies, the following information is disclosed in respect of Lyn Fafydd Rees (aged 45):

 
 Current Directorships:            Previous Directorships / Partnerships 
                                    in the last 5 years: 
 BBI Diagnostics Cayman1 Limited   F&H Baxter (Holdings) Limited 
 BBI Diagnostics Cayman2 Limited   Adam Biotechnology Limited 
 BBI Diagnostics Cayman3 Limited   Biozyme Holdings 
                                   Cambridge Bionutrition Limited 
                                   Novarum DX Limited 
                                   Alchemy Laboratories Limited 
                                   BBI Detection Limited 
                                   BBI Healthcare Limited 
                                   BBI Enzymes (USA) Limited 
                                   BBI Enzymes (UK) Limited 
                                   British Biocell International 
                                    Limited 
                                   BBI Diagnostics Group Limited 
                                   BBI Enzymes Limited 
                                   Platform Diagnostics Limited 
                                   Quotient Diagnostics Limited 
                                   Scipac Limited 
 

Pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies, the following information is disclosed in respect of Keng Hou Hsu (aged 40):

 
 Current Directorships:           Previous Directorships / Partnerships 
                                   in the last 5 years: 
 Yourgene Bioscience Taiwan       Yourgene Bioscience Indonesia 
 Yourgene Bioscience Singapore 
 Cambridge Genomics Corporation 
  (Taiwan) 
 Changsform Innovations PTE Ltd 
  (Singapore) 
 
 
For more information, please contact: 
Premaitha Health PLC                           Tel: +44 (0)161 
 Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer              667 1053 
 Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer 
 Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing 
 [e-mail] 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD)           Tel: [phone] 
 Liam Murray / James Caithie                    0880 
finnCap (Broker)                               Tel: [phone] 
 Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson (Corporate   0500 
 Finance) 
 Abigail Wayne (Corporate Broking) 
Vigo Communications                            Tel: [phone] 
 Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia Pollock    0238 
 [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 current primary focus is on non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for pregnant women - an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market - although the Group intends to expand its product range into other areas of clinical genetics.

Premaitha's first product, the 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 solution 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.

From May 2018, the Group will trade as Yourgene Health outside of Europe (but remaining as Yourgene Bioscience in Taiwan) reflecting the increased scope of the business in other areas of clinical genetics further to reproductive health; but will maintain the Premaitha Health brand within Europe.

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.

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July 04, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)