Monogram launches PhenoSense Integrase for HIV in US
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Monogram Biosciences has launched its PhenoSense Integrase assay in the US. The CLIA-validated test measures the susceptibility of HIV to a class of drugs called integrase inhibitors. Merck & Co's Isentress (raltegravir) was the first integrase inhibitor to be US FDA approved, in October 2007. Others in development include Gilead Sciences' GS 9137 (elvitegravir), currently in phase III trials. The drugs block viral replication by inhibiting the insertion of HIV DNA into human DNA by the integrase enzyme. Many older HIV drugs inhibit reverse transcriptase, another enzyme essential for viral replication. PhenoSense Integrase is the only commercially-available integrase inhibitor resistance assay, San Francisco-based Monogram claims. The firm provides the test through its own laboratory.