如果没有脑雾 现在是21世纪！-->好阳光转移

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如果没有"脑雾" 现在是21世纪. 人类对治疗疾病的探讨升到了另一个境界: 今天坐落在旧金山的 ViroLogic, Inc 生物公司又得到了1亿美金的私人赞助, 因为其公司发明的 "PhenoSense~抗药基因检验" 在治疗艾滋病方面给医生用药提供了宝贵临床资料. 大家都知道病毒是非常容易变异的, 得到基因资料医生可以在用药前就知道病人感染的病毒型是否会对莫一种药物抗药, 从而达到用药效应, 缩短治疗过程... . 他们对肝炎的抗药检验也在研究中. ******* 此外在 Rocky Mountain Laboratories National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana 的另一组医生发现链球菌的基因型在复制时的"链球菌基因遗传走向组合"对决定病人得病型, 如风湿/非风湿性心脏病, 有重要关系. 这一发现将使科学家对日后细菌/病毒感染繁殖/复制时的 "走向/组合" 研究奠定了基础, 希望, 和兴趣. 对于未来慢性疾病, 如乙肝治疗, 用药, 和对病人诊断的"预言"都有意义. ****** 21世纪了, 光有雄心壮志, 一腔热血是没有用的. 要运用科学, 遵循进化, 相信疾病都能被消灭. 谢谢阅读. 411 ****** November 15, 2001 Contact: ViroLogic Customer Service (800) 777-0177 [email protected] VIROLOGIC LAUNCHES FIRST COMBINATION HIV DRUG RESISTANCE TEST TO PROVIDE PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC INFORMATION ON A SINGLE REPORT SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA — ViroLogic, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLGC) today announced that the Company has launched PhenoSense GTTM, the first HIV drug resistance test to provide doctors with a single report on a patient's drug resistance profile using phenotypic test results supplemented by genotypic information. With the introduction of PhenoSense GT, which is available across the United States and covered by most third-party payors, ViroLogic is now the only company in the world to offer a combination resistance test providing physicians with all available drug resistance information in one integrated, easy-to-interpret report. PhenoSense GT combines ViroLogic's two proprietary assays: PhenoSenseTM HIV, its rapid, direct and sensitive phenotypic resistance test, and GeneSeqTM HIV, its genotypic assay. PhenoSense GT is the latest product developed by ViroLogic's research team to help physicians and patients individualize treatment regimens to fight HIV. It is designed to provide the most comprehensive information available to assist physicians in selecting optimal treatments for their patients, particularly for the increasing number who have highly complex patterns of HIV drug resistance. "PhenoSense GT demonstrates ViroLogic's leadership in HIV drug resistance technology and service by meeting an increasing market need, and should contribute to the already steady growth of our patient testing business," said Bill Young. "We will continue to leverage our leadership and experience to make individualized medicine a reality for HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases in the future." Physicians have increasingly been using phenotypic and genotypic tests in combination as more patients experience highly complex and difficult-to-manage drug resistance. However, since the two tests are usually performed at different labs and results are always provided on separate reports, it is often difficult for physicians to get the results of both tests at the same time in an easy-to-interpret, side-by-side format. Each PhenoSense GT patient sample is evaluated using ViroLogic's PhenoSense technology, which directly and quantitatively measures resistance of a patient's virus to all of the available antiretroviral drugs. At the same time, each sample is also evaluated with a genotypic test, which reads the genetic makeup of the virus to identify mutations that could lead to resistance. By using genotypic data to supplement phenotypic results, PhenoSense GT can provide more insight into resistance patterns, thereby providing physicians with the most comprehensive information for optimizing treatment selections, especially in challenging and complex resistance cases. PhenoSense GT results are delivered in 14 days or less. "More and more of my patients are experiencing drug resistance and treatment failure," said Howard A. Grossman, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Attending Physician at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. "PhenoSense GT, combined with good patient history and clinical judgment, gives me the resistance information I need to make more informed treatment decisions for my patients facing HIV drug resistance." HIV drug resistance is a rapidly growing problem that is jeopardizing the success of AIDS therapy for the nearly 500,000 Americans being treated with antiviral drugs for HIV infection. Widespread resistance to these drug regimens is greatly complicating treatment for these patients, especially those who have been on treatment for many years and have developed resistance to individual drugs, or even to entire classes of therapy. A recent study by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco predicted that more than 40 percent of HIV-positive individuals in San Francisco will have drug-resistant strains of HIV by 2005. Another study corroborating this finding on a national scale will be presented as a late-breaking clinical study at ICAAC on Tuesday, December 18, 2001 in Chicago. About ViroLogic ViroLogic is a biotechnology company advancing the fields of individualized medicine and pharmacogenomics, helping to make them realities in healthcare around the world today. The Company discovers, develops and markets innovative products to guide and improve treatment of serious viral diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis. Its leading expertise in virology, molecular biology, clinical research, engineering, information systems, and quality assurance has resulted in technology to assess drug resistance and susceptibility in viruses that cause these diseases, which affect millions of people worldwide. The Company's current products are designed to optimize HIV/AIDS treatment regimens, providing physicians with important information to help select appropriate drugs for their patients and leading to better outcomes and reduced costs. These products are also being used by major pharmaceutical companies to develop new and improved antiviral therapeutics targeted at emerging drug-resistant viruses. More information about the Company and its technologies is available atwww.virologic.com orwww.phenosense.com. Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking, including statements relating to the Company's product development efforts. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to whether ViroLogic's products will achieve market acceptance, whether payers will authorize reimbursement for our products, whether we will be able to expand our sales and marketing capabilities, whether the FDA or any other agency will decide to regulate our products or services, whether we will encounter problems or delays in automating our process, whether we will successfully introduce new products using our PhenoSense technology, whether intellectual property underlying our technology is adequate, whether we are able to build brand loyalty, whether we will be able to raise sufficient capital and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000. ### Genome Sequence of Group A Strep Shows Phage Insertions Affect Virulence NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 25 - Phage-like elements encode virulence factors in an M18 strain of group A Streptococcus (GAS) associated with rheumatic fever, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for April 2. These findings indicate that horizontal gene transfer contributes to the genetic variation among strains of GAS. "We are very interested in attempting to determine why a very small number of people develop rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, while very large numbers of individuals get GAS pharyngitis," Dr. James M. Musser told Reuters Health. He and his associates believe that this issue involves a combination of factors. "We find that there is a subpopulation of individuals who are predisposed to the illness," Dr. Musser said. Moreover, there is also "a specific group of strains that have the chutzpah to cause this unfortunate disease," he added. Dr. Musser, of the Rocky Mountain Laboratories National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana, and colleagues conducted genome sequencing to identify a single circular chromosome of 1889 open reading frames (ORFs) in a GAS strain isolated from a patient with rheumatic fever. The researchers found that this M18 strain contains 178 unique ORFs not harbored by a previously sequenced, less virulent M1 strain. The M1 strain, in turn, contained 112 unique ORFs. The M18 GAS strain contains many phages and insertion elements. Virulence factors encoded by the M18 genome include a cysteine protease, streptolysin O, streptokinase, and two streptococcal collagen-like proteins. Streptodornase, streptococcal protective antigen, and streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A are also encoded by the M18 strain but not by the M1 strain. Several freely diffusible extracellular proteins encoded by M18 are believed to contribute to host-pathogen interactions. "We've got in that genome about 10 to 15 proteins that look like human proteins--for example, cardiac proteins and those involved in the immune system--that are potentially involved in generating an immune response against the organisms, which unfortunately is also directed against the human host," Dr. Musser added. Dr. Musser pointed out that his group is now involved in vaccine development and targeting some of the gene products for potential new therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. His team has also nearly finished sequencing the GAS genome of a strain associated with necrotizing fasciitis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002;99:4668-4673. ****** [ 此消息由 liver411 在 2002-03-28.03:18:44 编辑过 ]