Premaitha gets £2.1m support for patent battle

Manchester-based Premaitha Health – the company behind the IONA prenatal test for Downs syndrome and other genetic disorders – has received a £2.1m loan finance its ongoing patent battle with American company Illumina.

The funding has come from Thermo Fisher Scientific, which is not party to the litigation.

The facility is provided on a commercial basis consistent with previous loans and is secured on the shares of the company’s Taiwanese subsidiary – Yourgene Bioscience Co.

In November, Premaitha, led by chief executive Dr Stephen Little, suffered a setback in its fight with Illumina  over the patent of IONA.

A High Court ruling delivered deemed the IONA test infringed the company Illumina Inc’s patent in “certain respects”.

The judgment also refused the company’s application for declarations of non-infringement in respect of two proposed alternative methods of performing the IONA test.

A Form of Order Hearing will be scheduled this week at which the judge will hear applications from the various parties arising from the judgment, including Premaitha’s application for leave to appeal and Illumina’s anticipated application for a proportion of its costs, in the form of an interim payment.