NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Natera and Unilabs have struck an agreement under which Unilabs will distribute Natera's non-invasive prenatal screening test, Panorama, in Switzerland and Scandinavia, the companies said today.
Unilabs, based in Geneva, provides diagnostic services in 11 European countries, where it operates more than 120 laboratories and 44 radiology units. Its customers are public and private healthcare providers, county councils, insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, CROs, and the general public. The company supplies medical laboratory services for laboratory medicine, genetic testing, medical imaging, cellular pathology, reproductive medicine, drug development services, and clinical trials.
San Carlos, Calif.-based Natera launched its Panorama test in March for the detection of trisomies 21, 18, and 13 as well as for certain sex chromosome abnormalities, such as monosomy X. The test, which can be performed as early as nine weeks of pregnancy, analyzes 19,500 SNPs in cell-free DNA from maternal blood using a proprietary algorithm. In recent studies, it has shown sensitivity greater than 99 percent for trisomies 21, 18, and 13, and 92 percent for monosomy X, with no false positives.
Last month, Natera penned another agreement, with Echevarne, which will offer the Panorama test through its facilities in Spain.