Open Orphan subsidiary to trial influenza antiviral for Big Pharma firm in £10m deal
A subsidiary of clinical research firm Open Orphan has inked a £10.4m contract with a Big Pharma client to test an influenza challenge virus and an antiviral product in human trials.
The London-listed firm’s challenge trials company hVIVO has seen a rise in pharmaceutical companies looking to test their vaccines and antivirals against specific subtypes of viruses which have the potential to be widely spread since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Influenza poses a serious global health threat, causing an estimated 290,000 – 650,000 deaths per year with significant pandemic potential, and as such, the development of new vaccines and antivirals to fight flu remains vitally important,” CEO Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan said in a statement.
“We’re delighted to be working again with this top 5 global pharmaceutical company to test its antiviral, using a new influenza strain developed by our highly experienced team. This contract is the third challenge study with this client, and our second end-to-end full-service contract overall.”
Batches of the H1N1 are expected to be manufactured by the second quarter of next year, ready for hVIVO to begin a placebo-controlled human study which is anticipated to be completed in the final months of 2023.