Verinata Health Announces New Findings At The American Society Of Human Genetics

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinata Health, Inc., a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, today announced two poster presentations at the 62^nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). The conference is being held in San Francisco, California.

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"The verifi® prenatal test offers pregnant women access to a blood test that is safe, early and accurate," said Dr. Jeffrey Bird, Executive Chairman and CEO of Verinata Health.  "Looking beyond our current product offering, our early work presented at ASHG represents an exciting possibility for future non-invasive prenatal tests. While this initial work serves as a proof of principal, it clearly demonstrates the power and potential of massively parallel sequencing to detect alterations within individual chromosomes, similar to chromosomal microarrays."

The following posters were presented at ASHG on Thursday, November 8, 2012:

• Detection of Fetal Sub-Chromosomal Alterations in Maternal Plasma Cell-Free DNA (cfDNA) Using Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS). (Poster #3021T) This poster demonstrates that Verinata's proprietary technology, together with next-generation sequencing, can be used to detect subchromosomal changes in the fetus.
• cfDNA is not Compromised by Temperature Stress of Maternal Blood Collected in Streck Cell-Free DNA BCT. (Poster #3007T)

About the verifi® prenatal test
The verifi® prenatal test is a blood test that analyzes genetic material (or DNA) naturally found in a pregnant woman's blood to detect the most common fetal chromosome abnormalities.  When directed by a physician, the verifi test can be offered to pregnant women of at least 10 weeks gestation at high risk of carrying a fetus with a genetic abnormality. A physician may classify a woman as "high-risk" if she is over 35 years of age, has a prior personal or family history of chromosome abnormalities, or has had a positive initial screening test indicating she is at increased risk for carrying a fetus with a genetic abnormality.

Verinata Health, Inc.
Verinata is driven by a sole, extraordinary purpose – maternal and fetal health. Our initial focus is to develop and offer non-invasive tests for early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities using our proprietary technologies. We aim to reduce the anxiety associated with today's multi-step process, the unacceptable false-positive rates, the non-specific and sometimes confusing results of current prenatal screening methods, as well as the risk of current invasive procedures. In support of national guidelines recommending first trimester aneuploidy risk assessment, we believe women who desire such an assessment should be offered a single blood draw test with a definitive result. The verifi® prenatal test is available throughout the United States, with the exception of New York, through a physician. For more information about Verinata, please go to www.verinata.com.

SOURCE Verinata Health, Inc.