Premaitha Health expands pre-natal test in Thailand

21st Nov 2016 07:53

(ShareCast News) - Premaitha Health has agreed to offer its IONA non-invasive pre-natal screening test to a medical centre in Bangkok.The company's Thai subsidiary Geneplus will supply the neonatal test to the Centre for Medical Genomics at the Ramathibodi Hospital in Mahidol University, which has partnered with the Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences.The Centre for Medical Genomics will be a hub for non-invasive prenatal tests, accepting samples from across Thailand and nearby countries for analysis with the IONA test.The laboratory is currently undergoing training and installation, and is expected to be operational during December.The European certified IONA test estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions, using the mother's blood sample, which contains traces of fetal DNA, and then analysed using DNA sequencing technology. The test reduces the number of women subjected to invasive procedures which are costly and resource intensive.Chief executive Dr Stephen Little said: "We are delighted to have expanded our global footprint of laboratory customers to now include Thailand and that women in the country will increasingly be able to benefit from our safe and accurate non-invasive test."Asia Pacific is a region in which we believe there is significant potential for non-invasive prenatal testing - to secure our first operational laboratory in Asia is an important strategic milestone."Shares in Premaitha Health were up 1.49% to 8.50p at 0818 GMT.