NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Ariosa Diagnostics today said it has reached a deal with Fleury Medicina e Saude (Fleury Group) to provide Ariosa's non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test in Brazil.
The Fleury Group will distribute the Harmony Prenatal Test within its network of more than 3,000 clinical laboratories and hospitals throughout the country, which Ariosa said has an annual birth rate of almost 3 million.
The Harmony test is based on next-generation sequencing technology and provides a direct analysis of cell-free DNA in blood. According to Ariosa, the test has an accuracy rate above 99 percent for evaluating trisomy 21 risk, with a false positive rate of 0.1 percent. The test can be performed as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Earlier this month, San Jose, Calif.-based Ariosa announced a deal with Advance Medical to bring Harmony to Mexico.
The deal is also the second such agreement in recent months to bring a sequencing-based NIPD test to Brazil. In August, Ariosa competitor Natera said the DASA Group would offer the San Carlos, Calif.-based company's Panorama test in that country.