LabCorp and Monogram Biosciences have developed a new test to detect HIV resistance mutations to antiretrovirals (ARVs). Unlike previous tests, this one works even when an individual has a very low or undetectable viral load. Called the GenoSure Archive, the test should aid physicians in better determining which ARV regimen is the best for their patients living with the virus.

“The launch of GenoSure Archive addresses an emerging need of today’s HIV patients and their care providers, who are increasingly faced with choices to maintain or adjust ARV drug regimens when the patient has low or undetectable plasma virus,” Christos Petropoulos, PhD, vice president of research and development at Monogram Biosciences, said in a release. “GenoSure Archive gives clinicians the specific knowledge needed to better monitor or adjust their patients’ antiretroviral drug regimens. This test helps ensure that HIV/AIDS remains a chronic, manageable disease rather than a terminal illness.”

The test works by amplifying HIV’s DNA from infected cells and then looking for mutations that are linked to resistance to all of the most widely used classes of ARVs. To do so, it references Monogram Biosciences’ database of over 150,00 matched phenotype and genotype test results.