Professor Sir Chris Evans’ Lab21 and Virco partner to offer UK-based HIV-1 genotyping services

Cambridge, UK – 24th May 2010: Lab21 Limited, the Cambridge-based specialist in personalised medicine testing, has announced that it has reached agreement with Virco BVBA to distribute Virco’s virco®TYPE HIV-1 drug-resistance genotyping services for the UK and Ireland.
Lab21 will now provide the genotyping services to the UK and Ireland market directly from its own UK laboratory in Cambridge using Virco protocols whilst virtual phenotyping will continue to be provided by Virco BVBA via Lab21 as a distributor. This new arrangement between Lab21 and Virco followed the acquisition of Delphic Diagnostics by Lab21 in December 2009.
Dr Berwyn Clarke, Chief Scientific Officer at Lab21, commented: “Lab21 was originally founded on the basis of personalised medicine in the antiviral area. We are therefore delighted to be working closely with a partner with a similar background. We plan to expand our antiviral resistance services into other viral systems including HCV and HBV with further service launches in 2010.”
Mike Annable, Divisional Director for Clinical Services at Lab21, added: “We are delighted to be part of this collaboration as it will provide substantial improvements in the efficiency of delivery of resistance analysis to HIV patients in the UK and Ireland. We also hope to explore future technology opportunities with our new partner and others to seek new solutions for HIV and other diseases.”