Premaitha Health plc, developer of the IONA test, the first CE-marked test for non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPT), has signed a distribution agreement with Antisel SA, a Greek distributor of scientific products, to provide the IONA test to clinical laboratories in the region.
IONA Test. Image: Premaitha Health
Premaitha Health explains that the IONA test estimates the risk of a fetus being affected by Down’s syndrome and other serious genetic conditions such as Patau’s syndrome and Edwards’ syndrome by analysing fetal DNA from a sample of maternal blood. It has a higher detection rate and lower false positive rate than the current combined screening test available, giving pregnant women, their families and their doctors greater confidence in the result and reducing the need for unnecessary invasive follow-up tests that carry a risk of a miscarriage.
Furthermore, the IONA test enables clinical laboratories to run their own in-house service without having to send blood samples to central labs in the USA or China with a wait for results of up to 14 days. Premaitha Health adds that all NIPT screening in Greece is currently carried out in this way.
However, the UK based company believes that this distribution agreement will give clinical laboratories in Greece access to the IONA test, allowing them to offer local NIPT screening for the first time and to take advantage of the test’s time to result of just three days. This significantly reduces the waiting time and aims to reduce the associated anxiety and stress for pregnant women, Premaitha Health concludes.
Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha said:
“Antisel has an excellent reputation and distribution network within Greece and shares our mission to drive the broader uptake of NIPT so that more pregnant women can reap the benefits. This valuable partnership will enable us to provide the IONA test to hospitals throughout the country and we look forward to working with the Antisel team to help support clinical teams in setting up their own NIPT screening service.”
Kostas Gatsos of Antisel SA said:
“At Antisel we are committed to the supply of only the most innovative products and scientific solutions. As the first CE-marked NIPT test, we are looking forward to the opportunity to work with Premaitha to offer the IONA test to our customers, enabling them to provide this important service for pregnant women in Greece.”