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Yourgene Health, part of the Novacyt group of companies, a leading international molecular diagnostics group, has installed the first non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) workflow in Morocco based on the IONA test at the Centre de Biologie Riad (Laboriad). By offering this service locally, Laboriad can broaden its offering and provide pregnant women fast, reliable results that reduce the need for invasive tests and the associated stress and anxiety for expectant parents.
Yourgene’s IONA test, offered under the name COSY test by Laboriad, is an advanced prenatal screening test to estimate the risk that a fetus may be affected with trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards’ syndrome) or trisomy 13 (Patau’s syndrome). The test can also be used to determine the sex of the fetus. It is a complete CE-IVD product for laboratories wishing to offer their own in-house NIPT service. The analysis is performed on a maternal blood sample, using next-generation sequencing technology, with test results available in three days. It has been validated on a highly flexible and scalable workflow, suitable for low- to high-volume sample throughput, enabling clinical laboratories to meet and grow with their rising demands.
Lyn Rees, Executive Director, Yourgene Health, said: “Yourgene is committed to delivering best-in-class NIPT solutions and continues to be a leading player in the global NIPT market and a trusted provider. We are very proud, once again, to be contributing to patient care where it is needed and to be the first to bring NIPT to Morocco through our partnership with pioneering companies, like Laboriad, who are at the forefront of clinical testing in the region.”
Blood samples taken in Morocco are typically sent to countries such as France and Germany for NIPT. Laboriad’s addition of the IONA test to its laboratory workflow allows the company to become a local supplier of NIPT in Morocco, and surrounding regions, broadening access to non-invasive testing in these areas. Laboriad is able to deliver results quickly and reduce the number of failures due to low fetal fraction, which might otherwise occur following shipping delays.
“The establishment of the first NIPT platform in Morocco in collaboration with Yourgene Health, will improve the care of pregnant women in Morocco by giving gynaecologists and pregnant women rapid access to new generation NIPT,” said Dr Jalil Elattar, Director, Centre de Biologie Riad (Laboriad). “The clinical management of pregnant women in Africa is difficult, as many do not have access to NIPT, due to the complexity of having to send the samples abroad, resulting in costs and additional delays.
We are very pleased to collaborate with Yourgene Health who have installed their NIPT technology in our laboratory, allowing us to finally perform NIPT locally, in less than a week, and make them affordable and more accessible to pregnant women in Morocco,” he added.