Comparison of the Abbott Realtime™ HIV-1 and HCV viral load assays with commercial competitor assays

Abstract

The introduction of commercially available quantitative HIV-1 RNA detection methods at the end of the last century has had a significant impact on the management of patients requiring treatment. Similarly for hepatitis C virus (HCV), clinical decision-making with respect to initiation and prolonging therapy is largely based on data from viral load assays. The methods developed in the early 1990s and further improved since then still have significant drawbacks. For example, they are labor intensive, have a small dynamic range and are contamination sensitive. The development of real-time detection techniques for reverse transcription PCR has in part solved these problems. In the present review the advantages and disadvantages of the recently marketed Abbott Realtime™ HCV and HIV-1 viral load assays relative to their competitors will be discussed.

Keywords::

• automated system
• HCV
• HIV-1
• real-time RT-PCR
• viral load monitoring

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.