Open Orphan (LON: ORPH) shares are lower on Thursday following its update on the Covid-19 Human Challenge Programme.
The pharmaceutical firm said the first three volunteers have now successfully completed the quarantine phase with no safety concerns presented and have been discharged from the unit.
Open Orphan shares are trading 2.5% lower at 31.6p.
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According to the company, the characterisation study being conducted by Open Orpahn’s subsidiary, hVIVO, is the world’s first.
It will now progress to the next group of volunteers, with the first three volunteers continuing the participation with follow up visits and monitoring for up to one year.
In total, the study will inoculate up to 90 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 years old to enable the identification of the most appropriate dose of the virus needed to cause COVID-19 infection.
The study is funded by the UK Government, and Imperial College London is the sponsor.
“We expect that this study will greatly assist our understanding of this disease and provide insights into its progression, natural immune response, and transmission. We look forward to publishing the study’s results in due course and moving forward with vaccine challenge studies later this year,” commented Chief Scientific Officer at hVIVO, Dr Andrew Catchpole.
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