VLGC Virologic (MM)

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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