Verinata Health Laboratory Receives Accreditation from College of American Pathologists

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinata Health, Inc., a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, today announced that it has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for its clinical laboratory located at its corporate headquarters. As a federally recognized program, CAP accreditation completes the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification of accreditation for Verinata.  

"Reaching this significant milestone of CAP accreditation sets Verinata apart as having met the CAP quality standards required to ensure accuracy and reliability of our testing process," said Caren L. Mason, chief executive officer of Verinata Health. "We are applying the same stringent quality principles to every aspect of our business as we prepare for the commercial launch of our first non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test in the first quarter of 2012."

The CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program is an internationally recognized program that uses teams of practicing laboratory professionals as inspectors. During the CAP accreditation process, inspectors examine the laboratory's records, and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors examine laboratory staff qualifications, laboratory equipment, facilities, safety program and record, and overall management of the laboratory. This stringent inspection program is designed to specifically ensure the highest standards of care and consistently high level of service.

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.  Verinata is conducting a prospective, blinded pivotal study to clinically validate the sensitivity and specificity of its first prenatal test on a large scale with results of the study expected in 2011. For more information about Verinata, please go to www.verinata.com.

SOURCE Verinata Health, Inc.