Echevarne to distribute Natera's non-invasive prenatal screening test in Spain

Natera, a leading innovator in prenatal genetic testing, and Echevarne, a leading clinical analysis laboratory in Spain, today announced the signing of a distribution agreement for Echevarne to offer Natera's non-invasive prenatal screening test (NIPT), Panorama™, through its facilities in Spain. Panorama was launched in March 2013 for the detection of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) and select sex chromosome abnormalities, such as monosomy X (Turner's syndrome).

“We have invested considerable time and resources to ensure that Panorama offers physicians and expectant mothers highly accurate and reliable data”

"We have seen great demand for non-invasive prenatal testing and are confident in offering Panorama to our customers," said Alfonso Echevarne, CEO of Echevarne Laboratory. "This test is the next-generation option for parents and their doctors who want highly accurate information with no risk for the fetus, and we look forward to a strong partnership with Natera."

Echevarne, one of the leading and most advanced laboratories in Europe, offers clinical analysis services ranging from routine analyses to state-of-the-art molecular genetics tests. Its network includes laboratory facilities and hospital laboratories across Spain and Portugal.

"We have invested considerable time and resources to ensure that Panorama offers physicians and expectant mothers highly accurate and reliable data," said Matthew Rabinowitz, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Natera. "This partnership with Echevarne will allow Natera to distribute the test to a wide network across Spain as we continue our global roll-out."

Panorama uses a simple blood draw from the mother, examines cell-free DNA found in maternal blood originating from both mother and fetus, and can be performed within the first trimester of pregnancy, as early as nine weeks, without any risk to the fetus. Panorama's technology analyzes, in a single reaction, 19,500 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are the most informative portions of an individual's DNA. It utilizes the NATUS [Next-generation Aneuploidy Testing Using SNPs] algorithm, an advanced version of Natera's proprietary informatics.

Across multiple clinical trials, Panorama has been validated globally for trisomy 21, trisomy 18, trisomy 13 and monosomy X with a sensitivity of greater than 99% for trisomy 21, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13, 92% for monosomy X, and no false positives for all syndromes tested. Panorama's clinical validation data was presented at the annual Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine Meeting on Feb. 15, 2013. The most recent independently-led blinded study was published in May 2013 in Prenatal Diagnosis from author K.H. Nicolaides and The Fetal Medicine Foundation. Panorama is currently being evaluated in several other clinical trials for the detection of other genetic disorders, including XXY, XYY, XXX and triploidy.