LifeCodexx AG enhances PrenaTest® availability in Switzerland and Germany through successful technology transfers and strategic partnerships
Innovative PrenaBoxx® provides local NIPT software analysis solution for both NGS- and qPCR-related analysis technologies
Constance, March 16, 2016 – LifeCodexx AG today announced that it has recently teamed up with several leading laboratory groups in Switzerland and Germany in order to transfer LifeCodexx’ proprietary NIPT technology to the new partners. Through the cooperation agreements, the access to PrenaTest®, Europe’s first non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), will significantly be enhanced for gynecologists in the German-speaking regions via extensive medical customer and support networks provided by the partner labs.
In Switzerland, the PrenaTest® analysis is already carried out for a couple of months by the laboratory medical center Dr. Risch in Berne. Performing the NIPT analysis in Switzerland was one of the prerequisites for reimbursement by the statutory Swiss healthcare system, as decided by the Swiss authorities mid of 2015. Dr. Risch has already been offering the PrenaTest® to its gynecologists in Switzerland and Liechtenstein since 2013.
In Germany, the PrenaTest® technology will soon be transferred to the Limbach Group, one of the largest laboratory chains in Germany, with the aim to conduct the NIPT analysis locally in their human genetics center in Ulm. The Limbach Group recently included the PrenaTest® into their service offering, thus strongly expanding the nationwide support and care of gynecologists throughout Germany. Furthermore, the Medical Genetics Center (MGZ) in Munich, one of the largest human genetic laboratories in Germany, will start to perform the PrenaTest® analysis in spring this year, too. For this reason, the MGZ has established a comprehensive PrenaTest® supply network in cooperation with other leading human genetic and prenatal diagnostic partners in Neu-Ulm, Nuremberg and Munich.
Following the recently completed technology transfer in Germany, Labor Dr. Wisplinghoff will now start to perform the PrenaTest® analysis in its laboratories in Cologne. The Wisplinghoff group, supporting gynecologists in the entire north west of Germany and in Berlin, has already been offering the PrenaTest® to its customers since 2013.
“Key to the successful technology transfer is our innovative PrenaBoxx®, which represents a novel NIPT data analysis solution. The system includes our CE-marked PrenaTest® software and can be easily installed and operated locally in a user-friendly manner,” says Dr. Michael Lutz, CEO of LifeCodexx AG. “More importantly, the PrenaBoxx® is capable of analyzing data from both NGS and qPCR technology platforms and hence represents the most widely applicable NIPT software tool in the current global NIPT market.”
More than 2,500 gynecologists in the German-speaking regions already offer PrenaTest® to their patients. Currently, every 30 minutes a pregnant woman opts for the PrenaTest®. It is the only non-invasive prenatal test that is developed and performed in Germany according to German and European quality standards.
About LifeCodexx AG
Headquartered in Konstanz (Germany), LifeCodexx AG has been developing innovative and clinically validated non-invasive diagnostic tests based on the newest molecular analytical methods since 2010. With the PrenaTest®, Europe’s first non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) for the determination of the most common chromosomal disorders in unborn children, launched in 2012, LifeCodexx AG has been changing prenatal diagnostics considerably. The test is performed within Germany in strict conformity with the highest quality standards as per the European Directive on In-vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices.
