hVIVO signs €7.6 million contract for trials to treat RSV

Publicly traded pharmaceutical services company hVIVO has signed a £6.8m (€7.6m) deal with an Asia-Pacific-based pharmaceutical company to test a potential antiviral treatment for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

rish founded hVIVO, formerly known as Open Orphan, and conducts drug trials known as challenge trials at his London quarantine clinic in Whitechapel.

The Phase 2a, double-blind, placebo-controlled human challenge study will be conducted at the Company’s dedicated quarantine facilities in Whitechapel and will evaluate the efficacy profile of the antiviral against RSV infection in healthy volunteers. The study is expected to begin in the first half of 2024 with the majority of revenues being realized in 2024.

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

RSV is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in childhood, as well as a significant number of diseases in the elderly and in adults with chronic medical conditions

It affects an estimated 50 million people worldwide each year, resulting in four million hospitalizations and approximately 60,000 hospital deaths in children under the age of five.

hVIVO was co-founded by Irish financier Cathal Friel,

hVIVO CEO Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan said: “RSV has been a particular plague for mankind as there has been no effective vaccine against this virus in over 60 years of research and developmentn is being used to advance the development of several RSV vaccine candidates, and we expect at least one of the vaccines we’ve been working on to reach patients this year. This new client will benefit from our experience and expertise to inform their drug development plans.”