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news.US drug manufacturer Schering-Plough has signed a multi-year, $4.8 million agreement to license technology from San Francisco-based ViroLogic in support of its HIV drug discovery and development programs.
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Schering-Plough is planning to use ViroLogic’s HIV resistance testing technology in the development of its CCR5 receptor antagonist, vicriviroc.
CCR5 receptor antagonists are a type of HIV Entry Inhibitor, a class of drugs that has been identified as a promising new treatment option for HIV sufferers.
The phase III program for vicriviroc, which is expected to start this year, will leverage ViroLogic’s PhenoSense HIV Co-receptor Tropism assay to identify and monitor patients during the trials.
The agreement comes in response to recommendations from the FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee that biopharmaceutical companies should use HIV resistance testing technology to enhance next-generation HIV drug development. The industry currently has 20 approved HIV drugs and nearly 60 new drugs in the pipeline, which may require resistance testing for their development.