Advanced diagnostics company Amprion reports that it has raised $6 million out of a planned $15 million Series B financing round. The funding will help the company promote diagnostic testing for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia.
Amprion’s flagship offering will detect misfolded proteins in the central nervous system, also known as prion-proteins (PrP). These proteins are naturally produced by cells in the central nervous system, but an acquired mutation may cause them to fold into the wrong shape. Once misfolded, they can induce other proteins to misfold, spreading throughout the brain and leading to the destruction of neurons. This process begins long before the symptoms associated with neurodegenerative disease appear, which makes early detection vital to health in old age.
Amprion’s propriety technology is founded upon a method called the Seed Amplification Assay (SAA), formerly called SYNTap, which is already on the market and is used to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease through the detection of Alpha Synuclein aggregates. These aggregates appear both in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid many years before the patient exhibits any clinical symptoms. This method can therefore allow doctors to diagnose a developing condition years and at times decades in advance by using a minimally invasive procedure.
Source: Amprion raises $6M to develop test for Parkinson’s disease
https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/news/amprion-raises-6m-develop-test-parkinsons-disease/