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Open Orphan Shares Gain on Encouraging Mosquito Vaccine Phase 1 Study Results

Sam Boughedda trader
Updated 19 Nov 2021

Open Orphan (LON: ORPH) shares have moved higher Friday after it released data from the first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study of AGS-v PLUS, Imutex Limited's mosquito saliva vaccine.

Imutex is a joint venture formed by Open Orphan's subsidiary hVIVO and SEEK Group. The news is another positive update from ORPH after it told investors on Wednesday that hVIVO had won a £5.1 million contract with a biopharmaceutical company.

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The study examined the vaccine's safety, immunogenicity, and in vitro efficacy against arboviral (any group of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, etc.) diseases. These include malaria, dengue, yellow fever, the zika virus, West Nile virus, chikungunya virus, and dengue.

Open Orphan said the vaccine generated a strong immune response in participants while demonstrating that AGS-v PLUS was well tolerated with no serious adverse events experienced. 

“AGS-v PLUS showed a more robust immune response compared to AGS-v, a first-generation vaccine candidate developed by Imutex,” said Open Orphan.

Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan, said: “The positive data for the AGS-v PLUS mosquito vaccine candidate is encouraging; data showed AGS-v PLUS was well tolerated and generated a strong immune response in participants against mosquito-borne diseases, with an increased immune response compared to the four peptide AGS-v candidate. 

“Imutex's AGS-v and AGS-v PLUS vaccine candidates both employ a novel proposed dual action mechanism that prevents infection in humans whilst controlling mosquito population by limiting transmission.”

Shares of Open Orphan are currently up 1.16% at 19.98p after initially hitting a high of 21p. 

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Sam is a trader and lead stock market writer at AskTraders. After starting his career in the forex market, Sam now focuses on stocks, specifically consumer staples.Â