The hVIVO Plc (LON: HVO) share price, formerly known as Open Orphan, rallied 17.6% after signing a £6.8 million contract with a leading pharmaceutical company operating in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. The contract will see hVIVO test the company’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) antiviral drug candidate via its proprietary human challenge study model.
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The phase 2a trial will start in H1 2024 and will be a double-blinded placebo-controlled human challenge trial. hVIVO will conduct the trial at its specialist quarantine facilities in Whitechapel, evaluating the antiviral drug’s efficacy against RSV infection in healthy human volunteers.
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Given that the trial will kick off in H1 2024, most of its revenues will also be recognised in the same calendar year when hVIVO starts executing the contract. hVIVO was formerly known as Open Orphan, and investor interest in the company has risen over the past few years.
The company has since reinvented itself as a contract research organisation (CRO) specialising in human challenge trials, a unique model of testing the efficacy of drugs in healthy volunteers instead of the traditional method of testing drugs on sick patients.
Open Orphan (hVIVO) has since bagged contracts from leading pharma companies to test their RSV and other viral drugs. The company continues to witness significant demand for its human challenge trials due to the strength of the data generated for previous clients.
Yamin ‘Mo' Khan, hVIVO’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to be working with this client on their important RSV programme. RSV has been a particular blight on humanity with no effective vaccine against this virus in over 60 years of R&D. Our RSV challenge trial model is a tried and tested model that has been used to expedite the development of several RSV vaccine candidates, and we expect that at least one of the vaccines we have worked on will reach patients this year. This new client will benefit from our experience and expertise to impact their drug development plans.”
The CEO was thrilled to add a client from the APAC region, given that one of the company’s goals for 2023 is to attract more clients from the region.
*This is not investment advice.
hVIVO (Open Orphan) share price.
The hVIVO share price rallied 17.61% to trade at 19.70p, from Friday’s closing price of 16.75p.
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