Premaitha announces tenth customer laboratory

Premaitha Health plc

Premaitha announces tenth customer laboratory

Manchester, UK - 29 March 2016: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT, "Premaitha" or the "Company"), announces that its French distributor, AdGeniX, has signed an agreement to offer the Company's IONA® test from a second laboratory in France. The new laboratory, Premaitha's tenth such facility, will offer non-invasive prenatal testing for the first time, and will be located in central France to act as a regional hub.

Premaitha is the developer of the leading CE-marked non-invasive prenatal screening system. Launched in 2015, the IONA® test is a complete system which analyses traces of fetal DNA circulating in the mother's blood stream to estimate the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome and other genetic conditions. Due to its high degree of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of pregnant women who are unnecessarily subjected to a stressful follow up invasive procedure. These follow up procedures are both costly and resource intensive and present a risk to the fetus.

"With one lab already live in France and the second expected to be operational in the second quarter this year, the IONA® test is making it easier for women in France to access a safe and accurate test for prenatal screening," commented Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha. "With an estimated 800,000 births a year, France is an important market for Premaitha. Following today's agreement, we now have ten customer laboratories offering the IONA® test in the UK and internationally, which is a significant milestone in our first year since the IONA® test was launched, and also creates very strong foundations for future growth."

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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). For further information please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.