ESPERITE, the laboratory that markets the NIPS test, “tranquility”, announced that it “is ready for the mass market”. In a press release dated 30 April 2015, the laboratory confirmed that the test complies with European Directive 98/79/EC relating to medical devices for in-vitro diagnostics.
It claims to be “leading the screening market for Down Syndrome”, with a “risk-free”, “accurate”, “fast” (“results available within 5 days”), “straightforward” (“requiring only one blood sample”) test. The laboratory boasts that this test could “considerably reduce the need to use invasive tests and thus avoid related risks”.
Armed with all of these arguments, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Great Britain commented as follows: “In time, this technology will probably become the first-line method for screening for chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy”.
Genoma, the predictive medicine division of Esperite, is implementing a dual strategy to “lead the European market”. This involves signing agreements “with the public sector and with major private health organisations”.
The message is clear: “We are expecting tranquility to replace conventional test methods and, in the near future, to become the standard, first-line screening procedure for chromosomal anomalies in all pregnant women”.
It confirms the determination to make these tests increasingly more accessible even though ethical questions are eluded. Furthermore, the laboratory is not concealing its economic motivations either.