UH and CWRU Announce Licensing Agreement
for the Development of HIV Drug Resistance Tests
C
ASE WESTERN RESERVE
Un iversit y (C W RU) h a s
signed an exclusive worldwide
licensing agreement granting
University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical
Center rights to a series of diagnostic
tests to determine drug resistance and
co-receptor tropism in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The phenotypic and genotypic HIV
tests (or assays) were invented by
Eric Arts, PhD, Professor of Medicine
in the Division of Infectious Diseases,
Department of Medicine at Case Western
Reser ve School of Medicine, and
Miguel Quiñones-Mateu, PhD, Assistant
Professor, Department of Pathology at
the School of Medicine and Scientific
Director at the University Hospitals
Translational Laboratory (UHTL).
The HIV assays provide a platform
of diagnostic tests used by physicians
and researchers to monitor the success
of anti-HIV treatment by determining
drug resistance and the ability of the
virus to infect different cells within the
patient. The HIV assays also can be used
by academic and corporate researchers
to develop novel strategies to block
HIV replication.
In July 2011, UH Case Medical
Center c re ate d t he U H T L w it h
the goal of advancing and further
developing new molecular diagnostic
methodologies originally conceived in
the academic and clinical laboratories
at UH Case Medical Center and Case
Western Reserve. UHTL's main objective is to facilitate the development
of translational research into commercial assays or products, including
characterization, verification, and
validation in a College of American
Pathologists and Clinical Laboratory
Improvement Act (CAP/CLIA) certified
environment under a Good Laboratory
Practice framework.
The UHTL occupies 4,200 square feet
of office and laboratory space, including
Biosafety Level 2-plus, and was recently
CAP-accredited. The first series of cellbased and molecular HIV diagnostic tests
will be offered by the UHTL during the
second quarter of this year. I
SEPTEMBER- OCTOBER 2013 I MDNEWS.COM I
MD NEWS Cleveland/Akron/Canton
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