Manchester-based molecular diagnostics firm Yourgene Health plc said on Wednesday it has signed a five-year contract extension with Illumina Inc.

“The contract is a restated licence and supply agreement for Yourgene’s sequencing based NIPT IVD products, which will now run until September 2028,” said the Manchester firm.

“The restated licence provides seamless continuity for existing customers and allows Yourgene to continue its product development roadmaps for NIPT and other future applications in the field of precision medicine, as the Company looks to further penetrate key international markets such as Americas, UK, Europe and Australia.”

Yourgene CEO Lyn Rees said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Illumina following a successful five years of working together to date.

“This provides us with a good opportunity to further develop exciting market opportunities in NIPT across many key markets.”

On July 3, Yourgene said it has agreed to a £16.7 million cash takeover by French company Novacyt.

The proposed acquisition price of 0.522 pence per share represented a premium of approximately 167.7 % to the closing price of 0.195 pence per Yourgene share on June 30, 2023.