Diagnostics developer DiamiR said today that it has received an additional $345,000 in grant funding from the National Institute on Aging to develop a microRNA-based test for early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

In 2017, the Monmouth Junction, New Jersey-based company received a $2.8 million Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research from the NIA for the test, called CogniMir. The new funding was awarded under that ongoing grant.

"Our novel diagnostic approach focuses on detecting changes in the plasma levels of microRNAs enriched in the specific brain regions affected by the disease," DiamiR CSO Samuil Umansky said in a statement. "Our goal is to provide drug developers and clinicians with a tool for identifying patients earlier, preferably before they exhibit clinical symptoms, when treatment can be more effective."