hVIVO signs €7.6m contract for trials of RSV treatment

Open Orphan/hVIVO co-founder Cathal Friel

February 06 2023 01:38 PM

Stock market listed pharmaceutical services firm hVIVO has signed a £6.8m (€7.6m) contract with a pharmaceutical company based in Asia Pacific to test a potential anti-viral treatment for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Irish founded hVIVO, previously known as Open Orphan, runs drug trails known as challenge studies in its London quarantine clinic in Whitechapel.

The Phase 2a double-blinded placebo-controlled human challenge trial will take place at the Company's specialist quarantine facilities in Whitechapel and will evaluate the efficacy profile of the antiviral against RSV infection in healthy volunteers. The study is expected to commence in the first half of 2024, with revenue mostly recognised in 2024.

As part of the study, hVIVO will recruit healthy volunteers via its dedicated volunteer recruitment arm, FluCamp.

RSV is the main cause of childhood lower respiratory infections as well as a significant amount of disease in the elderly and in adults with chronic medical problems

Globally it affects an estimated 50 million people annually, leading to four million hospitalisations and approximately 60,000 in-hospital deaths in children younger than five years.

hVIVO was co-founded by Irish financier Cathal Friel,

CEO of hVIVO, Yamin 'Mo' Khan, said: "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.”