Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) said its hVIVO operation has won a £3mln contract to create a challenge virus that will be used to test vaccines and antivirals against new COVID variants.
The deal has been signed with Imperial College London as part of an initiative funded with the Wellcome Trust medical charity with manufacturing set to be complete by the end of the year.
"This contract is a great example of how our unique abilities to provide an all-encompassing solution for human challenge trials sets us apart,” said Open Orphan chairman, Cathal Friel.
“We are able to support our customers from the very beginning of the process by developing challenge study models, including the manufacture of the challenge virus, as well as taking responsibility for full trial recruitment and using our London based quarantine facilities to run the human challenge studies themselves."
Chief scientific officer, Dr Andrew Catchpole, explained that the work would use the hVIVO’s “extensive experience” in challenge virus production and the lessons learned characterising the original “Wuhan-like” strain.
“The availability of a variant SARS-CoV-2 virus will greatly expand the utility of the SARS-CoV-2 challenge model and allow us to answer a wider range of important scientific questions to aid control of the pandemic as well as facilitate further testing of vaccines designed against COVID-19," he explained.
Following completion of the manufacturing project there may be the potential for a follow-on characterisation study for this virus, investors were told.