hVIVO has secured a £5.2m (€5.9m) contract with an unnamed global biotechnology company based in the Asia Pacific region to test its respiratory synctial virus vaccine (RSV) candidate.
The US saw an alarming surge in the number of children being hospitalised with RSV, ie the common cold virus and a known cause of bronchiolitis in infants, earlier in the winter, although the White House did not declare a health emergency in response.
hVIVO, formerly known as Open Orphan, will use its established RSV human challenge study model for the testing, with the Phase 2a double-blinded placebo-controlled trial to take place at its specialist quarantine facilities in London.
hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc) is a rapidly growing specialist contract research organisation (CRO) and the world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease vaccines and antivirals using human challenge clinical trials, providing end-to-end early clinical development services for its broad and long-standing client base of biopharma companies.