Ongoing Laboratory Testing for HIV Drugs

The British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has a Laboratory Program that offers research and clinical service. It is a clinical laboratory for HIV accredited by the Diagnostic Accreditation Program (DAP) of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). It is also designated by the WHO HIV as a Specialized Resistance Testing Laboratory.

One of the laboratory programs works to provide physicians assistance in choosing the optimal anti-HIV therapy for their patients. It specifically focused on personalized medicine, proven to give patients better results than general therapy.

The laboratory program also tests approved anti-HIV drugs that are being used across Canada. Among Canada’s drug resistance testing, the BC-CfE performs approximately two-thirds. Some of these tests monitor genetic changes in a patient’s virus that may affect the effectiveness of the therapy.

At the same time, other tests focus on the patient’s genetic makeup to see if there are side effects in the use of the drug. The third tests monitor a tool that could be instrumental for drug absorption, treatment adherence, toxicities, and side effects.

The results of these tests are essential for physicians to understand why some patients do not respond positively to particular anti-HIV drugs.