Open Orphan lands £7.3mln influenza human challenge study
pharmafile | May 19, 2022 | News story | Business Services |
Open Orphan has said that its hVIVO subsidiary has landed a £7.3 million influenza challenge study.
Under the terms of this agreement, the company researchers will carry out a double-blind, placebo, controlled assessment of the drug, which means one cohort will receive the active treatment, while the other half will be administered a substance with no medicinal value.
The scientists will analyse the drug’s potential to ward off the flu virus (its prophylactic properties) and the post-inoculation activity of the drug in healthy volunteers.
The WHO has described a human challenge study in the following terms: “Human challenge studies are trials in which participants are intentionally challenged (whether or not they have been vaccinated) with an infectious disease organism.”
These types of trials help understand how viruses work, and offer insight into which promising vaccines offer the best chance of preventing infection.
Human challenge studies may also help us understand which people are most likely to develop symptoms and, just as importantly, which people are likely to have none.
“hVIVO has seen a steady increase in flu studies, a reflection of the shift in market sentiment following recent scrutiny of infectious disease data that has outlined the significant threat of flu and the potential of human challenge studies to the advancement of drug development candidates,” said Open Orphan chief executive Mo Khan.
The CSO of hVIVO, Dr. Andrew Catchpole, hopes that the studies will also help experts understand “exactly what type of immunological response is required to confer protection from reinfection.”
Lina Adams
