Hepatitis C Virus Services
As a preclinical CRO, ImQuest BioSciences has extensive experience in antiviral testing service for the development of novel therapeutic and prevention products. Our hepatitis C virus program is focused on meeting the requirements stated in the FDA’s Guidance for Industry for developing direct acting antiviral agents for HCV treatment.
Our services are available for the evaluation of small molecules, natural products, immune modulators, biologics and therapeutic antibodies and provide necessary support from initial discovery, structure-activity relationship evaluation, lead identification and IND-directed preclinical development.
Don’t see the assay you are looking for? Contact or technical team. We can explore assay transfer or internalization from a pre-developed or published method and perform a feasibility review.
Antiviral Development Services
Utilize ImQuest BioSciences’ expertise to accelerate the development of candidate antiviral drugs designed for the treatment of HCV. Employ our suite of in vitro screening assays to rapidly identify and characterize new antiviral drug candidates for their activity against respiratory viruses.
- Antiviral activity in cell culture –Anti-HCV Replicon-Based Evaluations. The current standard for evaluation of anti-HCV activity is efficacy and toxicity in the HCV replicon model. ImQuest provides primary evaluation using genotype 1 replicon models. Efficacy can also be examined in the presence of serum and serum protein.
- Cellular Toxicity. Toxicity of compounds is examined in established and primary cell lines. Mechanism of toxicity can be evaluated using specific cellular markers for activation of apoptotic and programmed cell death pathways.
- Combination Antiviral Activity. Analysis of the efficacy and toxicity of the test compound in combination with different classes of anti-HCV compounds is performed to evaluate the potential synergistic or antagonistic characteristics of the compound combinations.
- Resistance selection. Resistance selection is performed using stable HCV replicon containing cells cultured under selective pressure in the presence of increasing concentrations of compound. The selected cell lines are evaluated for the changes in anti-viral efficacy and cellular toxicity. Viral RNA is extracted from selected cell lines and subjected to whole HCV genome sequence analysis for identification of resistance engendering mutations. Site-directed mutagenesis of parental replicon sequences is used to validate resistance-engendering mutations.
Request a Scientific Consultation
We would love to hear more about your research and development needs. Contact us and we can coordinate a discussion with one of our technical directors to better understand your needs and develop a customized solution.
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Explore Additional Services
The ImQuest scientific team has extensive expertise in the development of small molecules, natural products, biologics and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious disease, cancer, and inflammatory disease. Explore our additional service offerings, or reach out to schedule a consultation.
Our Mission
Our goal is to help our clients accelerate their research and development efforts leading to the successful development of new products for the prevention and treatment of human disease. We have a very specific mission; accelerate your research and development plans and provide robust data in support of your projects.