MONOGRAM AND MERCK TO COLLABORATE ON TRIALS OF HIV-1 INTEGRASE INHIBITOR

Monogram Biosciences has announced that it is collaborating with Merck by providing its PhenoSense and GeneSeq testing technologies for use in Phase III trials of MK-0518, Merck's investigational HIV-1 integrase inhibitor.

MK-0518 is a novel compound with the potential to be the first in a new class of anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Integrase inhibitors are designed to block HIV from replicating by preventing the viral enzyme integrase from inserting HIV DNA into the human genome. Drug resistance will be evaluated using Monogram's PhenoSense GT, as well as other phenotypic and genotypic assays and clinical trial services.