PerkinElmer And Verinata Health Announce Collaboration To Expand Access To Non-Invasive Prenatal Test For Down Syndrome And Other Chromosomal Abnormalities

PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE: PKI) and Verinata Health, Inc., today announced a strategic agreement for expanding access to Verinata’s verifi ^® test, the most comprehensive non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) currently available for high-risk pregnancies. The verifi® test, which is performed at Verinata’s CLIA-certified, California laboratory, uses a single maternal blood draw as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy to detect multiple fetal chromosomal aneuploidies. Chromosomal aneuploidy is an abnormal number of chromosomes.

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, PerkinElmer will serve as an exclusive Verinata Health commercial partner in the joint sales and marketing of the verifi ^® test in the United States. The collaboration consolidates and streamlines delivery of prenatal testing options due to the combination of PerkinElmer’s extensive prenatal testing menu with Verinata’s proprietary technologies for the early, non-invasive identification of specific fetal chromosomal aneuploidies.

“PerkinElmer has a strong history and commitment to bring innovative offerings that are dedicated to maternal and fetal health, to physicians and patients. Integrating Verinata’s non-invasive prenatal test with PerkinElmer’s existing solutions ensures that physicians and patients have early access to the most advanced testing solutions to help protect the health of mothers and babies and we look forward to working with Illumina,” said Robert Friel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PerkinElmer.

In December 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine issued a joint Committee Opinion stating that NIPT is one option that can be used as a primary or secondary screening test for pregnancies with an increased risk for aneuploidy. This includes women who will be 35 years of age or older at delivery, women with a prior personal or family history of chromosome abnormalities, pregnancies that have received abnormal biochemical screening results, and pregnancies showing ultrasound abnormalities. Further asserting the importance of screening, this new opinion follows ACOG’s Practice Guidelines in 2007 which recommended that the option of screening and invasive diagnostic testing for aneuploidy be offered to all pregnant women, regardless of age.

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