Veritas Intercontinental completes its perinatal services offering with the launch of myPrenatalWES, an innovative prenatal diagnostic test

- Veritas Intercontinental expands its range of perinatal services with the launch of myPrenatalWES, an innovative prenatal diagnostic test indicated for pregnancies with risk of genetic alteration.

- myPrenatalWES technology is a breakthrough because it allows, with a single test, to replace the different techniques used in prenatal diagnosis, shortening the response time, and maximizing the diagnostic yield.

- Veritas' portfolio of perinatal genetic services also includes myPrenatal - advanced non-invasive prenatal testing, PregnancyLoss to determine possible genetic causes in cases of spontaneous termination of pregnancy and myBabyHealth, the most comprehensive genetic screening service for before and after the birth of a child.

- Veritas opened its state-of-the-art genetics laboratory in 2020, offering perinatal services to its global partners.

MADRID, Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Veritas Intercontinental launches myPrenatalWES, a differential prenatal diagnostic test developed for at-risk pregnancies that provides, with a single technique, an analysis of deletions and duplications (CNVs or Copy Number Variants) along with the molecular study of genes related to fetal findings.

In gestations with fetal structural anomalies, such as cardiac, short femur, increased nuchal fold or intrauterine growth retardation, the standard procedure so far involves performing an array CGH (microarrays) as a first study. In the absence of findings, a second technique of sequencing of specific genes related to the ultrasound findings is necessary. This implies a significant delay in diagnosis and eventual therapeutic interventions.

With myPrenatalWES the complete fetal exome is directly sequenced, enhanced for the detection of CNVs and pathogenic variants in genes that may be related to fetal anomalies. This makes it possible to detect a possible genetic cause using a single technique, maximizing diagnostic yield, and thus shortening turnaround times.

According to Dr. Vincenzo Cirigliano, Chief Technical Officer of Veritas, "Technological advances in sequencing and interpretation of large-scale genetic data are allowing us to develop more efficient tests whose advantage is particularly evident in prenatal diagnosis. The study of CNVs as a first step of fetal exome analysis allows us to expand the resolution of the arrays to the level of single nucleotide variants, selecting genes possibly related to the ultrasound abnormalities in each case. In addition, it allows us to reduce the time to deliver results in high-risk pregnancies, where there is a need for early therapeutic intervention." Dr. Cirigliano adds, "Having the fetal exome already sequenced in the first trimester also has the advantage of being able to reinterpret the data in the light of subsequent findings even after birth."

"As a clinical geneticist," says Dr. Luis Izquierdo, Chief Medical Officer of Veritas, "I have seen cases of pregnant women whose fetuses had structural alterations and in many cases, microarrays have failed to make a diagnosis. The prenatal exome can increase the diagnostic yield by about 24% in cases with negative karyotype and microarrays."

"It is vitally important," Dr. Izquierdo continues, "to determine the underlying cause of the fetal alterations to establish a diagnosis, prognosis and risk of recurrence in future pregnancies. Fetal exome analysis is now available and represents a major advancement in prenatal diagnosis."

Veritas offers a comprehensive perinatal medicine service portfolio

Veritas developed a genetic service based on innovation and excellence, creating a broad portfolio that covers all the needs of screening and perinatal diagnosis.

It is now a decade since the commercialization of the first non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) and thanks to technological improvements in recent years, Veritas has managed to expand the screening of fetal chromosomal abnormalities, offering myPrenatal in three versions. In its simplest version, it analyzes the most frequent trisomies, 13, 18 and 21 (Patau, Edwards and Down syndrome, respectively). The test can be completed with the study of aneuploidies of the sex chromosomes, X and Y. Finally, the most complete version, myPrenatal GenomeScreen, further expands the analysis to genomic level of large deletions and duplications related to fetal anomalies and developmental delay.

This genetic screening can be completed with myBabyHealth, a service that includes myPrenatal during pregnancy and then after the birth of the child, a neonatal screening test for 390 genetic diseases that can appear in early childhood. The aim of the test is to prevent or reduce the impact of diseases on a child's health.

Finally, PregnancyLoss, a test to determine a possible underlying genetic cause in the event of termination or spontaneous loss of pregnancy, has been added to the perinatal medicine portfolio. The test requires only a sample of maternal blood, thus avoiding the frequent failures of cytogenetic studies in abortive remains.

Genetic Counselling

Genetic counseling, both pre and post-test, is a main part and differentiating service of Veritas Intercontinental. An expert medical team, with extensive experience in both diagnosis and genetic counseling, accompanies the professional to advise him/her on the interpretation of the results.

In this sense, and as Dr. Izquierdo points out, "If we bear in mind that the prenatal diagnosis strategy and the decision as to which test is the most appropriate for each patient depend on the clinical information available, as well as on the family history, it is easy to understand the fundamental role of genetic counseling, since each case must be evaluated independently. And this can be extrapolated to any patient who comes to our office, we are genetically unique, and each case must be evaluated in this way."

About Veritas Intercontinental

Veritas Intercontinental was founded in 2018 by Dr. Luis Izquierdo, Dr. Vincenzo Cirigliano and Javier de Echevarría, who have accumulated extensive experience in the field of genetics, diagnostics, and biotechnology, initially linked to Veritas Genetics, a company founded in 2014 by Prof. George Church, one of the pioneers in preventive medicine. Veritas was born with the aim of making genome sequencing and its clinical interpretation available to all citizens as a tool to prevent diseases and improve health and quality of life.

Since its inception, Veritas Intercontinental has led the activity and development of the Veritas market in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Japan; with the aim of making genomics an everyday tool used for proactive healthcare management.

Based on its leadership in the application of preventive genomic medicine (myGenome), Veritas Intercontinental has expanded its offer to other areas such as perinatal medicine (myPrenatal -NIPT- and myNewborn -neonatal screening-), oncology (myCancerRisk), or cardiovascular pathologies (myCardio), thus becoming the benchmark in advanced genomics services.

For further information:
https://www.veritasint.com

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Contacts:

Marta Pereiro
+34 689 00 40 07
[email protected]

María Guijarro
+34 622 836 702
[email protected]