Premaitha Health scores Indian prenatal testing agreement

Premaitha Health announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a three year agreement with an Indian clinical laboratory group to provide a scalable non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) solution.

The AIM-traded molecular diagnostics firm said it has entered the agreement through its subsidiary Yourgene and that the project will seek to offer mass-population NIPT screening to their clinical network reaching over 2,000 cities and towns across India.

Stephen Little, chief executive of Premaitha Health, said: "Premaitha's NIPT system for this Partner brings together our world class assay and bioinformatics capabilities in the UK and Taiwan, applies higher sample throughput technology, and delivers a bespoke solution that puts NIPT in reach of large populations requiring cost effective screening."

Using a "breakthrough" DNA preparation technology from Premaitha’s UK development centre, the group has developed a bespoke NIPT screening system for its new Indian partner.

The developed solution will allow for the use of lower cost NIPT testing and is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of the year.

"We believe the combination of our Partner's established position in India and Premaitha's NIPT technology, presents an opportunity for material revenue growth for the Company over the contract life and beyond as test volumes ramp up to very significant levels," said Little.

NIPT is relatively new in the Indian market but Premaitha expects it to be a key growth market as the country has over 26m births per annum and there is an increasing awareness of the benefits NIPT can bring.

As of 0819 BST, Premaitha Health’s shares were up 5.66% at 8.61p.