Open Orphan has been awarded a £5mln human challenge study contract by a European company to test an intravenous antiviral candidate for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The biotech, an existing customer, will use the hVIVO RSV Human Challenge Study Model on a cohort of healthy young adult volunteers.
Revenues from the contract should be recognised across 2022 and 2023, said Open Orphan, with volunteers to be recruited through its volunteer recruitment arm, FluCamp.
Yamin Khan, chief executive, said: "RSV is a significant threat to public health, and we are delighted to support this European biotech in the development of its antiviral candidate.
"Following the recent expansion of our FluCamp facilities, which boosts our volunteer and patient recruitment capabilities as well as increasing our bed capacity by c.45%, we are now even better equipped to identify volunteers and to complete our growing pipeline of studies in a time-efficient manner.”
RSV is the main cause of childhood lower respiratory infections and is responsible for a significant burden of disease in the elderly and in adults with chronic medical problems, such as COPD.
Andrew Catchpole, hVIVO’s chief scientific officer added: “Efficacy data provided by the company following the completion of the study can lead to entry into Phase II as well as optimisation of a Phase III programme.”