ViroLogic, Inc., has signed a multi-year, $4.8 million service agreement with Schering-Plough Research Institute, the research arm of Schering-Plough Corporation, to use ViroLogic's novel HIV resistance testing technology to support Schering-Plough's drug discovery and development programmes.

Schering-Plough plans to use ViroLogic's assays for the clinical development of its CCR5 receptor antagonist, vicriviroc, a potential new drug for HIV infection. CCR5 receptor antagonists are a type of HIV Entry Inhibitor, a class of drugs that is a promising new treatment option for HIV-infected individuals. The Phase III programme for vicriviroc is scheduled to commence in 2005 and will use ViroLogic's PhenoSense HIV Co-receptor Tropism assay to identify and monitor patients during the trials.

"We have become the preferred partner of industry leaders, like Schering-Plough, to provide them with the technologies they need for the discovery and development of new HIV therapeutics, such as entry inhibitors," stated Bill Young, ViroLogic's chairman and CEO.

As recommended by the US FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, biopharmaceutical companies are using 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.