ViroLogic, Inc., has signed a three-year, $7.5-million service agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to use ViroLogic's novel HIV resistance testing technology to support GSK's drug discovery and development programmes.

GSK plans to use ViroLogic's assays across its virology portfolio, including its entry inhibitor programme, where ViroLogic's PhenoSense HIV Co-receptor Tropism assay will be used to identify patients for clinical trials and to monitor response to drug treatment during the trials. Entry inhibitors are a promising new treatment option for HIV-infected individuals.

Bill Young, ViroLogic's chairman and CEO said, "ViroLogic pioneered the use of testing to help guide better treatment of patients, and we believe our tests have enabled breakthroughs in the way clinical trials are designed. Our tropism assay can help both pharmaceutical companies and the FDA to effectively monitor clinical studies of entry inhibitors, offering visibility into the effectiveness of this exciting new class of drugs."

ViroLogic has developed technologies to assess drug resistance among a number of antiretroviral therapies in both preclinical and clinical studies.