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NextGen Creates Diagnostics Subsidiary for CNS Test Development

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – UK-based NextGen Group announced this week it has completed the formation of a diagnostics subsidiary to develop tests for central nervous system disorders.

The new firm called NextGen Sciences Dx and headquartered in Boston, will focus on the discovery of biomarkers for the development of tests for disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, and traumatic brain injury. The tests will provide information on whether patients may have the disease and allow physicians to monitor changes in their conditions. Additionally, NextGen said, clinicians and pharmaceutical firms would be able to use the tests to determine the efficacy of therapeutic treatments.

The company's core technology is mass spectrometry for the discovery of protein biomarkers.

"The last 12 months have been about us proving our technology and refining our methodology," Barry McAleer, CEO of NextGen Sciences, the US subsidiary of NextGen Group, said in a statement. "We now have a research and development engine that can enable us to provide accurate and highly specific diagnostic biomarkers and assays."

The company is currently targeting projects with "substantial financial potential," he added. "The next 12 months will be about using the technology that we have developed to make further biological discoveries, to secure the intellectual property that we are developing, and to start monetizing output."

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