ViroLogic Studies Emphasize the Benefits of Pre-Treatment Indicators in the Management of HIV Disease
10 June 2004 - 10:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
ViroLogic Studies Emphasize the Benefits of Pre-Treatment
Indicators in the Management of HIV Disease Scientific
Contributions at International Workshop Reinforce Company's
Leadership Position in Individualized Medicine CANARY ISLANDS,
Spain, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ViroLogic, Inc.
(NASDAQ:VLGC) announced today the presentation of 13 studies
utilizing its HIV drug resistance technologies by Company
scientists and collaborators at the 13th International HIV Drug
Resistance Workshop being held this week. These studies underscore
the utility of the Company's products and resources in enabling the
effective management of HIV infection, as well as the development
of new drugs and treatment strategies. "ViroLogic's strong presence
at the 13th International HIV Drug Resistance Workshop demonstrates
the Company's pioneering position in individualized medicine," said
William D. Young, Chairman and CEO of ViroLogic. "We believe that
ViroLogic's HIV drug resistance testing portfolio exemplifies how
other serious diseases can be effectively managed in the future.
The wide range of studies at this meeting also highlights the
benefits of leveraging long standing, productive collaborations
with leading academic, government and industry investigators to
achieve our goal of maximizing treatment success and providing cost
effective healthcare." Several notable studies to be presented at
the meeting highlight the diverse applicability of ViroLogic's
products in HIV disease management and provide early insight into
the mechanisms of resistance to the newest class of antiviral
drugs, cell-entry inhibitors. In a study directed by Dr. Andrew
Zolopa, Associate Professor at Stanford University, an expert panel
of leading HIV clinicians were asked to select treatment regimens
based on phenotypic (PT), genotypic (GT) or combined
phenotypic-genotypic (PTGT) test results. The data demonstrate that
different antiretroviral regimens are chosen depending on the type
of resistance test that is used. This study suggests that having
combined PTGT results provides a more informed approach to HIV
disease management. Previous studies have demonstrated that HIV
replication capacity (RC) is a key component of viral fitness and
that low RC is associated with preservation of the immune system,
i.e. CD4 T-cell count. At this workshop, ViroLogic collaborators
will present several new studies that demonstrate a relationship
between viral RC and HIV disease. In a study directed by
investigators at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology
in San Francisco, CA, RC in untreated patients was positively
correlated with CD8 T-cell activation, a known determinant of
immune system status. In a multivariate model including viral load,
CD4 T-cell count, and phenotypic drug resistance, RC was the sole
independent predictor of CD8 T-cell activation. These data suggest
that RC is a measure of viral pathogenicity rather than simply a
surrogate for viral load. In a second study, Dr. Charles Hicks,
Associate Professor at Duke University, evaluated whether specific
viral characteristics influence immune system restoration following
initiation of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART). The
investigators determined that patients with lower baseline RC at
the onset of HAART had larger recoveries of CD4 T-cell numbers
following treatment. This observation suggests that RC can be used
to help select the most appropriate timing for initiating treatment
on a patient-by-patient basis. In a study led by ViroLogic
investigators, resistance to entry inhibitors was shown to possibly
differ from that of more conventional HIV therapeutic targets such
as reverse transcriptase and protease. The primary goal of this
study was to identify whether resistance would emerge via
alternative mechanisms depending on the specific molecular
interaction that was targeted. Preliminary results suggest that
escape from inhibitors that block receptor or co-receptor binding
may occur by acquiring the ability to bind and utilize
receptor-inhibitor complexes. "Virus entry is a multi-step process
involving several virus envelope proteins and host cell receptors,
which each play a key role in entry and infection," said Christos
J. Petropoulos, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development
at ViroLogic. "Understanding how entry inhibitors work provides an
important advance in developing technologies that allow the early
identification of entry inhibitor resistance as well as new drugs
that can effectively circumvent this resistance mechanism." About
ViroLogic ViroLogic (the "Company") is a biotechnology company
advancing individualized medicine by discovering, developing and
marketing innovative products to guide and improve treatment of
serious infectious diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis. The
Company's products are designed to help doctors optimize treatment
regimens for their patients that lead to better outcomes and
reduced costs. The Company's technology is also being used by
numerous biopharmaceutical companies to develop new and improved
antiviral therapeutics and vaccines targeted at emerging
drug-resistant viruses. More information about the Company and its
technology can be found on its web site at
http://www.virologic.com/. Certain statements in this press release
are forward-looking, including the various statements relating to
the data presented at the 13th International HIV Drug Resistance
Workshop described in this press release. These forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and other
factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from
the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such
forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, the risks that the Company's products may
not continue to perform in the same manner as indicated in the
studies discussed in this press release, whether ViroLogic
successfully introduces new products, whether others introduce
competitive products, the risk that the Company's products for
patient testing may not continue to be accepted or that increased
demand from drug development partners may not develop as
anticipated, the risk that gross margins may not increase as
expected, the risk that ViroLogic may not continue to realize
anticipated benefits from its cost-cutting measures, the timing of
pharmaceutical company clinical trials, whether payors will
authorize reimbursement for its products, whether the FDA or any
other agency will decide to regulate ViroLogic's products or
services, whether the Company will encounter problems or delays in
automating its processes, whether ViroLogic successfully introduces
new products, whether others introduce competitive products,
whether intellectual property underlying the Company's PhenoSense
technology is adequate, whether licenses to third party technology
will be available, whether ViroLogic is able to build brand loyalty
and expand revenues, and whether ViroLogic will be able to raise
sufficient capital when required. For a discussion of other factors
that may cause ViroLogic's actual events to differ from those
projected, please refer to the Company's most recent annual report
on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DATASOURCE: ViroLogic, Inc. CONTACT: Karen Wilson, CFO of
ViroLogic, Inc., +1-650-624-4164, or Web site:
http://www.virologic.com/
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