Business Wire - Thursday March 11, 1999
The HIV Genotyping System incorporates the latest in PCR and automated DNA sequencing technologies. It offers optimized reagents, superior enzymes, and fully integrated knowledge-based software, all specifically designed for use on existing general purpose PE Biosystems' PCR platforms and automated genetic analysis instruments. The system affords accuracy, sensitivity, ease-of-use, and speed of analysis in a standardized format for sequence-based HIV genotyping.
Using this system, the laboratory can begin by sampling plasma and proceed through reading a software-generated printout of variant HIV genotypes present in that sample. These genotyping results can be correlated with the therapeutic effects of new investigational drug therapies by helping to monitor the development of drug-resistant strains in response to particular drug regimens being tested in clinical trials. Built-in quality-control checks and standardization allow the results to be readily compared with those from other studies.
"The standardization, consistency, and high throughput that this genotyping system provides will substantially improve our ability to analyze large numbers of samples from clinical trials," said Dr. Lisa Demeter, head of the Sequencing Working Group of the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group. "This will improve our understanding of how HIV resistance develops during combination therapy, and how to most effectively design treatment regimens for this disease."
The HIV Genotyping System specifically targets the sequence of HIV protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) genes. The protein products of these genes are the primary targets of the most effective antiretroviral drugs (i.e., protease and RT inhibitors), and it is these genes that typically mutate to generate drug-resistant HIV strains. The system was developed by PE Biosystems' Molecular Diagnostics Group, which specializes in providing easy-to-use, robust assays for clinical research studies in the areas of cancer, immunology, genetic and infectious diseases. These assays, which use fluorescent DNA genetic analysis technology and customized data analysis software, make genetically based testing in the laboratory more routine.
The Perkin-Elmer Corporation currently comprises three divisions. The PE Biosystems Division, with sales of $922 million during fiscal 1998, supplies instrument systems, reagents, software, and related services to the life science industry and research community. The Analytical Instruments Division, which the Company has decided to sell, had sales of $609 million during fiscal 1998 and is a leader in supplying a broad range of instruments to the pharmaceutical, environmental, food, chemical, petrochemical, and related industries. Celera Genomics, a newly formed business unit, intends to become the definitive source of genomic and related medical information. Headquartered in Connecticut, Perkin-Elmer had revenues of more than $1.5 billion in fiscal 1998 and employs more than 7,000 people worldwide. Information about Perkin-Elmer is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.perkin-elmer.com or by phoning (800) 762-6923. Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," and "potential," among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Perkin-Elmer's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Perkin-Elmer notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, development, and results of Perkin-Elmer's businesses include but are not limited to (1) dependence on new products; (2) sales dependent on customers' capital spending policies and government-sponsored research; (3) claims for patent infringement; (4) significant overseas operations; (5) future growth strategy; (6) Year 2000; (7) earthquakes; and (8) other factors that might be described from time to time in Perkin-Elmer's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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