Encouraging preliminary results from an ongoing phase 1 study have triggered the announcement of phase 2 studies for a first-in-class nasal spray to protect people from respiratory viral diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza.
Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) and University of Newcastle respiratory researchers have played an integral role in developing the spray for Australian biotech company, Ena Respiratory.
In parallel, Ena Respiratory will partner with hVIVO (part of Open Orphan plc) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pre-exposure INNA-051 treatment in reducing viral load of influenza in experimentally infected adult volunteers. Both studies will begin in January 2022.
Open Orphan (LON:ORPH) was founded in 2017, with the goal of rapidly building Europe’s leading pharma services company by a management team with extensive industry and financial expertise. The company comprises of two commercial specialist CRO services businesses (Venn Life Sciences and hVIVO) and is also developing a genomics data platform business (Genomic Health Data).