Premaitha Health PLC Litigation First Instance Judgment (0843X)
November 21 2017 - 5:47AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMNIPT
RNS Number : 0843X
Premaitha Health PLC
21 November 2017
Premaitha Health plc
("Premaitha" or the "Company" or the "Group")
Litigation First Instance Judgment
Manchester, UK - 21 November 2017: Premaitha Health plc (AIM:
NIPT), a leading international molecular diagnostics group focused
on non-invasive prenatal testing ("NIPT"), announces details of a
legal judgment handed down today.
The UK High Court has today delivered its first instance
judgment (the Judgment) in relation to the ongoing dispute with
Illumina Inc and others concerning three UK patent families, ("Lo
1", "Quake" and "Lo 2"). The Judgment has deemed all the concerned
patents to be valid, although it has invalidated a number of the
claims of Lo 1 and has decided that the Company's IONA(R) test
infringes that patent only in certain respects. However, the
Judgment also deems that the IONA(R) test infringes the asserted
patents in the Quake and Lo 2 families. The Judgment also refused
the Company's application for declarations of non-infringement in
respect of two proposed alternative methods of performing the
IONA(R) test.
A Form of Order Hearing (the Hearing) will be scheduled in late
2017 / early 2018 at which the Judge will hear applications from
the various parties arising from the Judgment, including
Premaitha's application for leave to appeal and Illumina's
anticipated application for a proportion of their costs, in the
form of an interim payment (pending appeal). The quantum and timing
of any award will not be determined until the Hearing, and the
Company will prepare for a range of eventualities. If upheld on
appeal, the Judgment could impose restrictions on the Company's
ability to sell into the UK market and/or order other remedies
against the Company, in favour of the patent-holders.
The UK market represents approximately 20% of the Group's
revenues, a proportion which is decreasing as the international
customer base expands.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO, said, "we are very disappointed with
this ruling and deeply disagree with the interpretation the Judge
has given to precise technical language in the patents. The effect
of the Judgment could potentially limit the access of UK patients
to NIPT and, in certain respects, diverges from decisions made in
other jurisdictions. We are seeking leave to appeal and continue to
believe that the motivation behind these legal actions is
competitive rather than technical. In the meantime we will continue
to offer our high quality NIPT solutions and support to pregnant
women and their clinicians in the UK, as we continue to expand our
business into territories where we can operate with greater legal
certainty. In addition we are accelerating plans to broaden the
menu of tests we offer beyond NIPT and which should be cash
generative in 2018. We will also focus on mitigating any financial
implications of the litigation."
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
Office
Barry Hextall, Chief Financial
Officer
Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing
investors@premaitha.com
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP Tel: +44 (0)
(Nomad) 20 7213 0880
Liam Murray / James Caithie
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 9701
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia
Pollock
premaitha@vigocomms.com
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
END
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