Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) has won a £7.5mln contract to conduct a human viral challenge study for an unnamed biotechnology company.
To be carried out at subsidiary hVIVO’s facility, the controlled clinical assessment is designed to demonstrate the efficacy of the client’s lead drug treatment against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Contagious, RSV affects the respiratory tract of children and at-risk older adults. In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia and other life-threatening breathing difficulties.
Work will get underway in the fourth quarter with the majority of the revenue being recognised in 2021.
Open Orphan chairman Cathal Friel said: "This is another substantial and significant contract win for hVIVO and Open Orphan.
“Through signing these deals, we continue to reinforce our position as the clear world leader in human challenge studies.”
Over the past year, the company has fully restructured, reorganised, and integrated its London, Paris and Breda operations, he noted.
Open Orphan is now a “fast-growing, profitable provider of human challenge clinical trials in a manner required by the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies”, Friel added.
It has expanded from one clinic to multiple sites, and the chairman said the business would continue to invest and expand its global capability “to ensure our position as the world leader” in testing vaccines, antivirals, and monoclonal antibodies.
“In the past, human challenge studies suffered from the perception that it was difficult to find a provider and that it may take a long period of time to complete, however, Open Orphan is transforming this view,” Friel said.