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Lab21 completes partnership deal with Monogram
Biosciences to enable launch of HIV Trofile TM assay in UK
Cambridge, 3 October 2007… Lab21, a leading
provider of health and environmental diagnostics, is delighted to have secured
an exclusive partnership with Monogram Biosciences Inc. to provide access to the
HIV TrofileTM assay in the UK. The agreement will see Lab21 provide operations
and logistic services for the new assay which is a companion diagnostic used in
the patient selection process for Pfizer’s new antiretroviral treatment
Celsentri™.
CelsentriTM is the first in its class of new HIV inhibitors, and HIV patients
should be pre-screened for the “tropism” of their virus prior to initiation of
therapy. Monogram’s TrofileTM assay is the only clinically validated way to
determine this. Monogram will use Lab21’s state of the art logistics and
operations capabilities to ensure that samples are properly collected and
rapidly transported to Monogram’s laboratory in South San Francisco where they
will be tested. Lab21 will also facilitate the reporting of results to the
clinic as efficiently as possible, ensuring that Trofile™ is available for
patients across the UK and Ireland.
Dr Berwyn Clarke, CSO of Lab21, said: “We are delighted to complete this
partnership with Monogram because they are one of the market leaders in HIV
clinical diagnostics. We are committed to providing a fully comprehensive
service portfolio for HIV patients and the availability of the TrofileTM assay
is an important component.”
Dr Jerry Walker, CEO of Lab21, said: “This deal not only shows recognition of
the quality of services that Lab21 provides but also reinforces our vision that
personalised medicine will become an increasingly important component of
clinical practice in the very near future. We have a staff highly experienced in
testing for infectious diseases, coupled with highly advanced facilities, and
the logistical network to ensure a full testing service can be offered across
the UK and Ireland.”
-ends-
About Lab21
Lab21 is a leading provider of cutting edge diagnostics, supporting drug
discovery, healthcare and environmental monitoring. Its customers include
healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, in addition to
organisations that need to monitor their impact on the environment.
Lab21 has a rapidly growing portfolio of diagnostics to support early stage drug
development, clinical trials and regulatory processes in the pharmaceutical
industry and to support clinicians and healthcare providers as they treat and
monitor patients.
The company’s products include diagnostic tests for cancer, liver disease,
respiratory illnesses and infectious diseases such as syphilis through its
subsidiary Newmarket Laboratories. Its pharmaceutical support services which
focus on anti-viral programmes include lead identification and optimisation of
targets, drug resistance profiling, mode of action studies, and drug combination
studies as well as clinical trial support.
The Lab21 group includes MTI (Monitoring Technologies International), a company
specialising in the development of environmental monitoring instruments, and
Newmarket Laboratories, which specialises in the development and production of
high-quality immunodiagnostics for infectious diseases.
Website: www.lab21.com
About Trofile
Trofile is a patient selection co-receptor tropism assay that determines whether
a patient is infected with a strain of HIV that uses either the CCR5 coreceptor,
the CXCR4 coreceptor, or a combination of CCR5 and CXCR4 to enter cells. The use
of CCR5, CXCR4 or both coreceptors defines the “tropism” of the virus strain.
Trofile amplifies the envelope gene from a patient's HIV genome (from their
blood sample) and then uses it to make HIV particles containing the patient’s
virus envelope protein. The resultant HIV particles are then used to infect
cells that contain the CCR5 co-receptor or the CXCR4 co-receptor on the cell
surface. Once the virus infects the cell and it undergoes a single round of
replication. Virus replication results in the production of luciferase from a
luciferase gene that is carried into the cell by the virus The production of
luciferase in either CCR5 cells, CXCR4 cells or both cell types defines the
co-receptor tropism of the patient virus.
About Monogram Biosciences, Inc.
Monogram is advancing individualized medicine by discovering, developing and
marketing innovative products to guide and improve treatment of serious
infectious diseases and cancer. Monogram’s products are designed to help doctors
optimize treatment regimens for their patients that lead to better outcomes and
reduced costs. Monogram’s technology is also being used by numerous
biopharmaceutical companies to develop new and improved antiviral therapeutics
and vaccines as well as targeted cancer therapeutics. More information about the
company and its technology can be found on its web site at
www.MonogramBio.com .
Contacts at Lab21:
Media relations for Lab21:
Northbank Communications
Tony Stephenson, Account Manager
Sue Charles, CEO
Claire Mosley, Account Executive
t : +44 (0) 20 7268 3002
e:
lab21@northbankcommunications.com
At Lab21:
Dr Jerry Walker, CEO
t : +44 (0)1223 395450
e: Jerry.Walker@lab-21.com
Dr Berwyn Clarke, CSO
t: +44 (0)1223 395461
e: berwyn.clarke@lab-21.com
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