HIV Viral Load Test Targets Two HIV-1 Genome Regions

A new Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load test will be commercially available in the US later this year. It targets two highly conserved regions of the HIV-1 genome and avoids any regions which are current drug targets, thus providing increased reliability as compared to other single target assays should a mutation occur.

The COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 Test, v2.0 utilizes the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Silver Spring, MD, USA)-approved High Pure System Viral Nucleic Acid Kit for manual specimen preparation and the COBAS TaqMan 48 Analyzer for automated amplification and detection.

Despite the rapidly growing genetic diversity of HIV-1, Roche's (Basel, Switzerland) dual-target approach for HIV viral load testing ensures enhanced reliability of results and increased confidence in assessing viral loads. The test has been approved by the United States FDA.

Since Roche first introduced this innovative dual-target approach for monitoring HIV-1 patients on antiretroviral therapy in 2008, over eight million tests have been performed worldwide on Roche's fully automated real-time PCR platforms.

An estimated 1.2 million persons were living with HIV infection in the United States at the end of 2010. Of those, 20% had undiagnosed HIV infections. Highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) and viral load tests that determine the amount of circulating HIV have contributed to a profound increase in life expectancy for people living with HIV.

The test was described in March 2012 and accessed June 18, 2012, in the journal Lancet

Related Links:
US Food and Drug Administration
Roche