YGEN.L Regulatory News (YGEN)

Premaitha Health plc

("Premaitha" or the "Company")

Premaitha signs distribution agreement with GeNext in Russia

Manchester, UK - 9 March 2016: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT), the company enabling wide scale adoption of a safe, fast, accurate and complete CE Marked non-invasive prenatal screening system, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with GeNext LLC ('GeNext'), to market Premaitha's flagship IONA® test in Russia.

The agreement with GeNext, a company dedicated to providing high quality molecular diagnostic products, will open up a key new market for Premaitha. Due to its highly accurate detection, the IONA® test significantly reduces the number of women who are unnecessarily subjected to risky, invasive follow-up procedures to diagnose Down's syndrome and other genetic conditions. There are approximately two million pregnancies per annum in Russia, and this agreement with GeNext will enable these women to access non-invasive prenatal testing ('NIPT') through the IONA® test.

As part of the agreement, GeNext will establish a central laboratory to act as a regional hub to process samples. In the interim period, GeNext will send samples to Premaitha's Manchester laboratory to be processed.

"We are delighted to have signed this agreement with GeNext to provide the IONA® test in Russia. This is a new territory for Premaitha and it enables us to establish a local laboratory offering routine non-invasive prenatal screening. The IONA® test is the leading CE marked complete system for NIPT, allowing a decentralised strategy with more labs being able to offer NIPT in-house with a regulated and validated system," said Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha.

"With the signing of this latest agreement, Premaitha is demonstrating its ability to develop a network of partners servicing many countries across the globe. The Russian market has significant potential for the IONA® test and, through GeNext, we are extremely well placed to accelerate market penetration across the country as awareness of the benefits of the test continues to grow," said Dr Little.

Vitali Proutski, CEO of GeNext, commented: "This is an extremely important alliance for GeNext, as there is compelling clinical evidence to support the benefits of NIPT, and we believe Premaitha's IONA® system is the market leading product. We have built up significant expertise in the distribution of molecular diagnostics and the inclusion of the IONA® test within our portfolio will significantly enhance our offering."

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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 speed and high level of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary invasive follow up diagnostic procedures which carry a risk of miscarriage.

NIPT 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 solution 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.