Open Orphan PLC (AIM:ORPH, FRA:CRO) said its hVIVO arm has won an £8.1mln contract with an unnamed ‘major global pharmaceutical company’ to test an antiviral product using its asthma human challenge study model.
It will use as the challenge agent the human rhinovirus, the most prevalent cause of the common cold, which can exacerbate the symptoms of asthma, a condition suffered by 5.4mln people in the UK.
Financially, the bulk of the revenues from the deal will be recognised this year and next. Work will get underway in the first half of next year.
Open Orphan said this latest contract underlined the “increased international focus [on] and investment into respiratory and infectious diseases following the outbreak of COVID-19”.
"The pandemic has highlighted that for the past 30 years there has been very little investment into the infectious disease and respiratory products space,” said chairman Cathal Friel.
“As such, when the pandemic arrived the world discovered that the medicine cabinet of infectious disease products to deal with COVID-19 was virtually empty.
“Post-pandemic, most governments across the world, all of the big pharma companies and many of the smaller pharma companies are now investing hugely in new infectious and respiratory disease products.”
Friel said he expects the market for the new generation of treatments to grow from US$20bn in 2019 to US$250bn by 2025.
“This restocking of the pharmaceutical industries medicine cabinet of infectious disease products around the world is now leading to an enormous expansion of investment into the infectious disease and respiratory product market and will be seen as one of the biggest growth opportunities in the history of the pharmaceutical industry,” he added.