Shares in Open Orphan PLC (AIM:ORPH, OTC:OPORF) rose 9% after its hVIVO subsidiary landed a £14.7m influenza deal – its largest single contract to date.
It is also its first end-to-end contract with the group manufacturing the virus, carrying out the characterisation study and then testing the vaccine.
“That is another major milestone for us,” said chief executive Mo Khan, in an interview with Proactive’s Stephen Gunnion.
In that chat, he said he expected influenza work to increase as companies race to find a suitable vaccine for the virus.
“I think Covid has highlighted the issues with regards to having a viral pandemic and influenza is believed to be the next viral pandemic,” Khan said.
“So, we are helping pharmaceutical partners in developing and discovering new drugs and getting them the efficacy data as early as possible so that they know their drug works.”
hVIVO’s contract is with an unnamed global ‘top-five’ pharma company, with work expected to get underway in the third quarter.
Revenues from the deal will be recognised this year and next.
Shares in parent company Open Orphan were up 1.39p, or 9.4% to 16.14p. In the past month, they have advanced 22%.