Esperite (ESP) and Premaitha Health sign a collaboration agreement for NIPT provision in Europe

Manchester, UK and Zutphen, the Netherlands - 16 March 2015 - Premaitha Health plc ("Premaitha", AIM: NIPT) and Esperite NV ("Esperite", AMS: ESP, Zutphen, the Netherlands) today announce the signing of an agreement under which Genoma SA ("Genoma", Geneva, Switzerland), the fully owned subsidiary of Esperite will have the right to use Premaitha's CE-IVD IONA® test for its non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) service called TRANQUILITY®. Access to Premaitha's test will allow Genoma to apply the CE-IVD marking to its NIPT for trisomies 21, 18 and 13.

The IONA® test is the first CE-marked in vitro diagnostic (IVD) product for NIPT. It uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to estimate the risk of a fetus having Down's syndrome (Trisomy 21), Edwards' syndrome (Trisomy 18) and Patau's syndrome (Trisomy 13) by analysing cell-free fetal DNA from a sample of maternal blood.

The NIPT test is more sensitive and specific than the current combined test, providing accurate and reliable results to pregnant women. The benefits of NIPT are 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. This further reduces the need for unnecessary invasive follow-up tests and the associated anxiety and stress.

Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha said: "This agreement with Genoma to provide our CE-marked NIPT solution to its laboratories is a major milestone for us as Premaitha's first sale in Europe. Genoma has the strength of infrastructure and the high technical expertise to be able to accelerate the broad dissemination of NIPT in Europe, ensuring its benefits are available to many pregnant women. The completion of this agreement so soon after receiving our CE mark is also a major achievement. We hope this will be the first of many agreements for the IONA® test and we look forward to a strong and fruitful partnership with Genoma."

Dr Frederic Amar, CEO of Genoma said: "The CE-IVD certification will allow us to bring our NIPT test TRANQUILITY® to the next level. Premaitha offers us the access to a technology that has proven to be efficient, fast, and robust. We will carry out the TRANQUILITY® NIPT test in our state-of-the-art genetic analysis laboratories located in Geneva, in accordance with the highest quality standards. We are happy that our customers can benefit from these advantages, and we look forward to working closely with Premaitha."

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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. 

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.

About Esperite NV

ESPERITE group, listed at Euronext Amsterdam and Paris, is the leading international company in regenerative and predictive medicine since 2000, operational in 40 countries with a network of 6'000 clinics worldwide. ESPERITE serves clients in its state-of-the-art lab facilities in Geneva coupled with ultra-modern processing and storage facilities in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Dubai, South Africa and Portugal. Its family stem cell bank, CryoSave, stores almost 275'000 samples from umbilical cord blood and cord tissue.

For further information please visit www.genoma.com and www.esperite.com