DiaGenic receives Norwegian krone 9.76 million to develop Alzheimer's blood test

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Jan. 6 - DiaGenic ASA said it has received Norwegian krone 9.76 million from the Norwegian Research Council. The funds will finance a project to develop blood-based gene expression tests for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease through 2008.

The council described DiaGenic's project as "a brilliant idea for the development of early diagnostics and for detection of Alzheimer's disease," according to a company news release.

Current diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease involves the use of a number of neurological, cognitive and blood-based tests, and a definitive diagnosis can only be obtained from a biopsy after the patient has died.

The company said that new methods of treatment in the pipeline are expected not only to reduce the progression of the disease, but to reverse the disease if discovered at an early stage. Once such methods of treatment reach the market, DiaGenic predicts that demand for diagnostic tests suitable for screening will increase considerably.

DiaGenic is a biotechnology company based in Oslo, Norway, that develops products for the diagnosis of major diseases based on the analysis of gene expression from blood samples. The company also received krone 9.2 million from the council in 2004 to fund development for a breast cancer product through 2007.

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