13 Aug 2020 07:00
Yourgene Health plc
("Yourgene" or the "Group" or the "Company")
TGA approves IONA® Nx for sale in Australia
Manchester, UK - 13 August 2020: Yourgene (AIM: YGEN), the international molecular diagnostics group, announces that its IONA® Nx NIPT workflow ('IONA® Nx'), a non-invasive prenatal test ('NIPT'), has been approved by Australia's Therapeutics Goods Association ('TGA') as a medical device Class 3, allowing Southern Cross Diagnostics, Yourgene's Australian distributor, to commence sales.
The TGA is the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia. It is a Division of the Australian Department of Health established under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.
Australia is the first major market outside of the UK / EU to have granted approval to IONA® Nx, following on from the CE-IVD approval it received on the 15 June, stating that the IONA® Nx was being readied for commercial launch in other geographies. The IONA® Nx is an in vitro nucleic acid screening test that measures the likelihood that a pregnant woman is carrying a fetus with Trisomy 13, 18 or 21. It is a laboratory based test that has been developed to run on the Illumina's NextSeq 550Dx instrument, a next generation sequencing ("NGS") platform.
It is estimated that the birth rate in Australia is 300,000 per annum1 and the increase of women having their first child over the age of 30 (risen from 23% in 1991 to 48% in 2016)1 is expected to result in increased demand for NIPT, demonstrating the importance of this target market for the Group.
Lyn Rees, CEO of Yourgene Health plc, stated: "This is a key milestone for the Company, which opens up one of the major healthcare markets in the world to our leading product and complements our existing product sales in that country. Southern Cross is already carrying out a superb job operating as our sole distributor for our reproductive health portfolio of PCR tests, in addition to our DPYD oncology product, which received TGA approval back in February this year. We look forward to mirroring that success with our NIPT product."
1 - https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/births-in-australia
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Yourgene Health plc Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer | Tel: +44 (0)161 669 8122 investors@yourgene-health.com | ||
Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer |
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Joanne Cross, Director of Marketing |
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Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (NOMAD) | Tel: +44 (0)20 7213 0880 | ||
Liam Murray / James Caithie / Ludovico Lazzaretti | |||
N+1 Singer (Joint Corporate Broker) | Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3000 | ||
Aubrey Powell / Tom Salvesen / George Tzimas |
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Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Corporate Broker) | Tel: +44 (0)20 7710 7600 | ||
Nicholas Moore / Matthew Blawat / Ben Maddison |
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Walbrook PR Ltd (Media and Investor Relations) | Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or yourgene@walbrookpr.com | ||
Paul McManus / Lianne Cawthorne | Mob: 07980 541 893 / Mob: 07584 391 303 | ||
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About Yourgene Health plc
Yourgene is an international molecular diagnostics group which develops and commercialises genetic products and services. The group works in partnership with global leaders in DNA technology to advance diagnostic science.
Yourgene develops and commercialises simple and accurate molecular diagnostic solutions, for reproductive health and molecular genetics. The Group's products include non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for Down's Syndrome and other genetic disorders, Cystic Fibrosis screening tests, invasive rapid aneuploidy tests, male infertility tests and genetic disease tests. Yourgene's commercial footprint is already established in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Our product development, research service and commercial capabilities extend across the lifecycle of genetic test development including regulatory submissions. Through our technical expertise and partnerships, Yourgene is also extending its genetic testing offering into oncology.
Yourgene is headquartered in Manchester, UK with offices in Taipei and Singapore, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market under the ticker "YGEN". For more information, visit www.yourgene-health.com and follow us on twitter @Yourgene_Health.