A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Neuroptix (Acton, Massachusetts), an Alzheimer's and prion disease diagnostics company, reported receiving $500,000 in angel funds to help further commercialize the company's product offerings.

The investment, which was led by Launchpad Venture Group and included several angel groups and individuals, is intended to support ongoing equipment trials, Neuroptix said. It also will be used to further develop and market the company's products, which assist in the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative neurological and ophthalmologic disorders.

Neuroptix's target market includes biopharmaceutical therapeutic and healthcare diagnostic and imaging companies.

Aside from Launchpad, participants in this financing included Granite State Angels, The Breakfast Club, Maine Angels, and other private investors.

Laboratory Corp. of America (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) licensed a drug response interpretation service from Seryx (Montreal), called Signature Genetics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Physicians are using pharmacogenetic tests such as cytochrome P450 (CYP450) to determine if an individual carries genetic variants, or polymorphisms, impacting the safety or effectiveness of many commonly prescribed drugs, LabCorp said. It said that the Signature Genetics interpretation and reporting service is intended to help take the "trial and error" out of selecting the most appropriate drug and establishing the most effective dosage for a given individual.

LabCorp commercializes new diagnostic technologies, offering clinical assays ranging from routine blood analyses to HIV and genomic testing.