As a new drug class, entry inhibitors are a promising breakthrough that will offer an effective treatment option to patients with a high level of treatment experience and resistance to currently available drugs. The successful development of new drugs in the entry inhibitor class requires unique drug resistance assay technology to assess the susceptibility of HIV, particularly multi-drug resistant HIV, to these new agents.

Monogram has applied its PhenoSense technology to develop a phenotypic assay for the evaluation of entry inhibitor drug susceptibility. The assay has been widely used in clinical trials, including the Phase III studies of enfuvirtide (Fuzeon) and viral susceptibility to enfuvirtide is commercially available in Monogram's CLIA certified laboratory to help guide patient therapy. PhenoSense HIV Entry is complemented by Monogram's envelope sequencing technology, GeneSeq HIV Entry.

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Reference: Westby, M., Smith-Burchnell, C., Mori, J., Lewis, M., Mosley, M., Stockdale, M., Dorr, P., Ciaramella, G. & Perros, M.

Reduced maximal inhibition in phenotypic susceptibility assays indicates that viral strains resistant to the CCR5 antagonist maraviroc utilize inhibitor-bound receptor for entry. M. Westby, et al; Journal of Virology, March 2007, p. 2359-2371, Vol. 81, No. 5

For more information on Monogram assays, services and pricing, please contact us.