ViroLogic Announces Multi-Year Service Agreement With Schering-Plough to Support New HIV Drug Discovery and Development Efforts

ViroLogic Announces Multi-Year Service Agreement With
Schering-Plough to Support New HIV Drug Discovery and Development Efforts 


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 6  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ViroLogic, Inc.,
(NASDAQ:VLGC) announced today that the Company has signed a multi-year, $4.8
million service agreement with Schering-Plough Research Institute, the research
arm of Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE:SGP), to use ViroLogic's novel HIV
resistance testing technology to support Schering-Plough's drug discovery and
development programs.

Schering-Plough plans to use ViroLogic's assays for the clinical development of
its CCR5 receptor antagonist, vicriviroc, a potential new drug for HIV
infection. CCR5 receptor antagonists are a type of HIV Entry Inhibitor, a class
of drugs that is a promising new treatment option for HIV-infected individuals.
The Phase III program for vicriviroc is scheduled to commence in 2005 and will
use ViroLogic's PhenoSense(TM) HIV Co-receptor Tropism assay to identify and
monitor patients during the trials.

"We have become the preferred partner of industry leaders, like
Schering-Plough, to provide them with the technologies they need for the
discovery and development of new HIV therapeutics, such as entry inhibitors,"
stated Bill Young, ViroLogic's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "ViroLogic
pioneered the use of testing to help guide better treatment of patients, and we
believe our tests have enabled breakthroughs in the way clinical trials are
designed. This collaboration with Schering-Plough represents another
significant clinical development program in which our co-receptor tropism assay
will be used."

As recommended by the U.S. FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee,
biopharmaceutical companies are using HIV resistance testing technology to
enhance next-generation HIV drug development. The industry currently has 20
approved HIV drugs and nearly 60 new drugs in the pipeline, which may require
resistance testing for their development. ViroLogic's patented technology can
be applied to new HIV drug targets and for use in vaccine research and
development. Current ViroLogic tests for pharmaceutical development include
PhenoSense(TM) HIV, GeneSeq HIV(TM), PhenoSense GT(TM), PhenoSense and GeneSeq
HIV Entry(TM), Replication Capacity HIV(TM), PhenoScreen(TM), Phenosense HIV
Antibody Neutralization(TM), and the new PhenoSense(TM) HIV Co-receptor Tropism
assay.

About ViroLogic

ViroLogic is a biotechnology company advancing individualized medicine by
discovering, developing and marketing innovative products to guide and improve
treatment of serious infectious diseases and cancer. The Company's products are
designed to help doctors optimize treatment regimens for their patients that
lead to better outcomes and reduced costs. The Company's technology is also
being used by numerous biopharmaceutical companies to develop new and improved
antiviral therapeutics and vaccines as well as targeted cancer therapeutics.
More information about the Company and its technology can be found on its web
site at http://www.virologic.com/.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking, including
statements regarding activities expected to occur in connection with the
service agreement with Schering-Plough Research Institute discussed in this
press release and the potential role for entry-inhibitor drugs in the
management of HIV-infected patients. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual
results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations
expressed in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the
performance of our products; our ability to successfully conduct clinical
studies and the results obtained from those studies; whether larger
confirmatory clinical studies will confirm the results of initial studies; our
ability to establish reliable, high-volume operations at commercially
reasonable costs; expected reliance on a few customers for the majority of our
revenues; the annual renewal of certain customer agreements such as the service
agreement with Schering-Plough; actual market acceptance of our products and
adoption of our technological approach and products by pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies; our estimate of the size of our markets; our estimates
of the levels of demand for our products; the timing and ultimate size of
pharmaceutical company clinical trials; whether payors will authorize
reimbursement for its products; whether the FDA or any other agency will decide
to regulate ViroLogic's products or services; whether the Company will
encounter problems or delays in automating its processes; whether intellectual
property underlying the Company's PhenoSense technology is adequate; whether
licenses to third party technology will be available; whether ViroLogic is able
to build brand loyalty and expand revenues; and whether ViroLogic will be able
to raise sufficient capital when required. For a discussion of other factors
that may cause ViroLogic's actual events to differ from those projected, please
refer to the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other subsequent filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. 

DATASOURCE: ViroLogic, Inc.



CONTACT:  Alfred Merriweather, Vice President and CFO, of ViroLogic,

[phone]; or Carolyn Bumgardner Wang of WeissComm Partners,

[phone], or , for ViroLogic, Inc.



Web site:  http://www.virologic.com/

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