OREANDA-NEWS. Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT), developer of the leading CE-marked complete non-invasive prenatal screening system, announces that its distributor in Thailand, Geneplus, has formally signed an agreement to offer the Company's IONA® test in the Center for Medical Genomics (CMG), Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, partnering with the Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS).

CMG in Bangkok will act as a regional hub for non-invasive prenatal tests ("NIPT"), accepting samples from across Thailand and nearby countries for analysis with the IONA® test. The laboratory is currently completing its training and installation phase and is expected to be operational during December.  

Premaitha's IONA® test was launched in 2015 and is the leading CE marked complete system which estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions. Unlike traditional prenatal screening methods, the IONA® test is performed on the mother's blood sample, which contains traces of fetal DNA, and then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology.

Due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary stressful and invasive follow up diagnostic procedures which are both costly and resource intensive; and carry a small risk of miscarriage.

Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha, commented:

"We are delighted to have expanded our global footprint of laboratory customers to now include Thailand and that women in the country will increasingly be able to benefit from our safe and accurate non-invasive test.

Asia Pacific is a region in which we believe there is significant potential for non-invasive prenatal testing - to secure our first operational laboratory in Asia is an important strategic milestone."

Prof Wasun Chantratita, Head of CMG, added: 

"We have chosen the IONA® test not only due to its complete CE mark validation, but also because it has a scalable, flexible workflow, reliable data analysis and interpretation as well as exceptional technical support provided alongside it. We look forward to working closely with Premaitha to build the CMG into a regional centre for high quality, fast and accurate cfDNA screening."

 

About Premaitha

Premaitha is a molecular diagnostics company which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved non-invasive screening tests for pregnant women.

Premaitha's lead test - the IONA® test - was launched in February 2015 and is the leading CE marked complete system which estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions. The IONA® test is performed on the mother's blood sample - which contains traces of fetal DNA - and then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology from ThermoFisher Scientific.

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

Non-invasive prenatal screening is an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market and Premaitha's complete CE Marked system enables laboratories and health care practitioners to offer an approved, non-invasive prenatal screening system in-house. 

Premaitha is based in Manchester Science Park, United Kingdom and its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT).

About CMG

CMG provides clinicians and medical researchers with an end-to-end solution. Starting with genotyping or genome sequencing, and then interpreting large numbers of human whole genomes, exomes, targeted sequencing of specific human genes or genomic regions, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), and NIPT; ending with the clinical interpretation findings report.