Premaitha Health PLC Middle East Business Update (2435X)
February 20 2017 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMNIPT
RNS Number : 2435X
Premaitha Health PLC
20 February 2017
Premaitha Health PLC
("Premaitha" or the "Company")
Middle East Business Update
Manchester, UK - 20 February 2017: Premaitha Health PLC (AIM:
NIPT), developer of a leading CE-marked non-invasive prenatal
screening system, is pleased to announce significant commercial
progress in the Middle East through its distribution network.
Premaitha has appointed distributors across the Middle East and
these partners have signed a number of new Middle Eastern customers
which in aggregate are expected to generate over 10,000 samples per
annum, once fully operational. The region offers greater
intellectual property freedom, is attracted to the high quality in
vitro diagnostic solution offered by Premaitha and is rapidly
adopting non-invasive prenatal testing ("NIPT") as a general
screening test.
United Arab Emirates ("UAE") and Saudi Arabia
Premaitha has appointed IgBioSystems ("IgBio") as a distributor
for the IONA(R) test in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. IgBio has already
secured its first customer in Dubai, which will initially send
samples to Premaitha in Manchester before installation of its own
laboratory later in 2017. Once installation is complete, the Dubai
laboratory will act as a regional hub, processing samples from
other hospitals in its local network and from West Africa where it
has significant connections.
IgBio has also secured a customer in Saudi Arabia that will be
looking to install a service laboratory later this year. Samples
will initially be sent to St George's Hospital in London while the
laboratory is undergoing set-up and installation.
Kuwait
Premaitha has also appointed a distributor in Kuwait which has
secured its first customer. This customer will initially send
samples to Manchester, and it is anticipated that demand for the
services will result in a full laboratory installation in Kuwait
later in 2017.
Intellectual Property landscape
The patents being asserted against Premaitha in the ongoing UK
litigation are not present in the Middle East.
NIPT adoption
NIPT is being rapidly adopted across the Middle East for all
pregnant women, in contrast to the high-risk focus of public
programmes in Europe. This creates a sizeable target addressable
market which is attracting high quality service providers who are
keen to establish in-house laboratories using Premaitha's IONA(R)
test technology.
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
pleased to report increasing traction in the Middle East, where our
existing installations are exceeding expectations and where we are
seeing strong demand in local hospitals through our distributor
network. This is a strategically important region which is
unaffected by ongoing intellectual property disputes and therefore
further de-risks the Company's position in this regard.
"It is clear that there is increasing recognition of the
benefits of NIPT as a general screening test in the region and this
in turn is driving demand for the IONA(R) test as a complete
in-house solution. The financial impact from these contracts will
build during our next financial year creating a strong platform for
recurring revenues in the years ahead. The Middle East is
positioning itself as a leading global healthcare destination and
we are rapidly establishing a significant market presence in the
region."
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)
161 667 6865
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive
Officer
Barry Hextall, Chief Financial
Officer
investors@premaitha.com
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad) Tel: +44 (0)
20 7213 0880
Liam Murray / Jo Turner
finnCap (Broker) Tel: +44 (0)
20 7220 0500
Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson
(Corporate Finance)
Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking)
Vigo Communications Tel: +44 (0)
20 7830 9700
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia
Pollock
premaitha@vigocomms.com
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(R) 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(R) test is performed on a
maternal 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(R) 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). 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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