Monogram Biosciences and Avexa Announce Exclusive Collaboration to Support New HIV Drug Discovery and Developme...( Monogram Assays to be used by Ave...)

Monogram Assays to be used by Avexa to select patients and optimize

background therapy in phase III program

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monogram Biosciences, Inc., (Nasdaq: MGRM) announced today that the Company has signed an agreement with AVEXA Limited (ASX: AVX) to be the exclusive provider of HIV resistance and tropism testing technology in support of Avexa's drug discovery and development programs.

Avexa plans to use Monogram's assays across its virology portfolio, including the phase III program for its lead compound, apricitabine (ATC), an anti-HIV drug in the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) class. ATC has successfully completed the 48 week dosing of its Phase 2b trial and the Phase 3 program has been initiated. Avexa plans to use Monogram's PhenoSense(TM) GT assay to select patients and optimize background therapy for trials involving approximately 2,000 patients, and to monitor response to drug treatment during the trials. ATC is a new nucleoside analog that is intended for use in patients who have developed viral resistance to existing drugs. Avexa also has HIV drugs in early development in the CCR5- and integrase- inhibitor classes.

"We are pleased to have selected Monogram as the exclusive provider of resistance tests for our development programs," said Julian Chick, Avexa's chief executive officer. "Monogram has an impressive portfolio of tests that we believe provide the accuracy and reliability that are necessary for studies that are intended to be submitted to the FDA and other regulatory agencies."

"Monogram's phenotypic resistance tests to optimize background therapy helped contribute to successful clinical trials for bo
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