Virco's HIV resistance test approved in Europe
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Infectious disease diagnostic specialist Virco has CE marked its vircoTYPE HIV-1 resistance test for sale in Europe. It is designed to predict how susceptible a patient's virus is to certain classes of HIV drugs, the reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors. First, the referring lab genetically sequences the virus and sends the results to Virco, which evaluates the mutations and performs mathematical modelling using the vircoTYPE HIV-1 software to predict the patient's response to a given drug. This could help physicians tailor treatment more effectively. The Beerse, Belgium-based company claims the product is the only HIV diagnostic of its kind to be available in Europe. Virco is also developing a test to predict response to another type of HIV drug, the integrase inhibitors, called vircoTYPE HIV-1 IN.