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The in vitro hepatitis C virus infection system as a drug discovery tool

Award Information
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Branch: National Institutes of Health
Contract: 1R43AI074101-01
Agency Tracking Number: AI074101
Amount: $100,713.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2007
Award Year: 2007
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
APATH, LLC 893 N. WARSON RD.
SAINT LOUIS, MO 63141
United States
DUNS: 075127220
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 AMINE NOUEIRY
 (314) 812-8160
 noueiry@apath.com
Business Contact
 JANET MILTON
Phone: (314) 812-8160
Email: MILTON@APATH.COM
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver disease throughout the world. Existing therapies are suboptimal and the search for alternative therapies is imperative. Recent years have seen a tremendous increase in efforts to identify more effective therapies against HCV. These efforts have been greatly facilitated by sub-genomic HCV replicon systems that efficiently replicate in cell culture. However, despite all the benefits of these replicon systems, the lack of an infectious HCV system in cell culture is still an impediment to all aspects of HCV studies, particularly the development of HCV anti-viral therapies. The recent development of an HCV clone that is infectious in cell culture (termed HCVcc) can directly address these shortcomings. The focus of this proposal is to develop the HCVcc system as a more useful tool for drug development. This includes identifying culture methods for increasing HCVcc titer, developing HCVcc genotypes relevant to the dominant drug development target, and facilitating drug cross-resistance studies by generating mutant infectious HCV viruses that harbor drug resistance mutations reported against experimental anti-HCV compounds presently being developed and evaluated. Results obtained here will not only directly benefit drug development efforts, but will also provide critical information and reagents to a rapidly-developing field of basic research. Infectious HCV for drug discovery.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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