DRUG RESISTANCE WORKING GROUP: This group develops recommendations and provides guidance for technological and analytical issues involved in sequence and phenotype analysis for monitoring resistance during drug development. The major output has been the publication of a paper that addresses the assessment of drug resistance through HCV sequence and drug susceptibility analysis, with the aim of streamlining HCV drug development through consensus recommendations and establishing coherent nomenclature. The group will spearhead an effort to generate a table (with periodic updates) on relevant mutations and their impact on phenotypic resistance, similar to the HIV mutations table published by the IAS-USA on an annual basis.

Publication:
Kwong AD, Najera I, Bechtel J, Bowden S, Fitzgibbon J, Harrington P, Kempf D, Kieffer TL, Koletzki D, Kukolj G, Lim S, Pilot-Matias T, Lin K, Mani N, Mo H, O'Rear J, Otto M, Parkin N, Pawlotsky JM, Petropoulos C, Picchio G, Ralston R, Reeves JD, Schooley RT, Seiwert S, Standring D, Stuyver L, Sullivan J, Miller V; Forum for Collaborative Human Immunodeficiency Virus Research; HCV Drug Development Advisory Group (HCV DRAG); Sequence Analysis Working Group (SAWG); Phenotype Analysis Working Group (PAWG). Sequence and phenotypic analysis for resistance monitoring in hepatitis C virus drug development: recommendations from the HCV DRAG. Gastroenterology. 2011 Mar;140(3):755-60.