Shares in the London and Dublin-listed life sciences firm hVivo saw a rise on Monday following the announcement of its inaugural Covid vaccine-related contract. Formerly known as Open Orphan, the company disclosed a £2.5 million (€2.9 million) agreement with an undisclosed mid-sized pharmaceutical firm. This contract will facilitate an Omicron characterisation study aimed at identifying a suitable dose of the challenge agent developed by hVivo last year, ensuring a safe, measurable, and reproducible disease in healthy volunteers. The ultimate goal is to enable future testing of related antivirals and vaccines.
For this study, hVivo plans to recruit healthy volunteers aged 18-30 who have already received a complete course of the Covid-19 vaccine. This recruitment will be managed by Flucamp, the company’s volunteer recruitment arm. The study is set to take place at hVivo’s new quarantine facilities in London’s Canary Wharf, which have been developed in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners. These state-of-the-art facilities include quarantine bedrooms, advanced laboratories, an outpatient unit, and corporate offices spread over two floors.
The Omicron study is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the majority of the revenue anticipated to be recognised in 2025. Subject to the successful completion of the study and regulatory approvals, hVivo expects to conduct multiple Omicron human challenge trials to evaluate the efficacy of medical products starting from mid-2025.
CEO Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan highlighted that a primary objective for hVivo is to diversify its challenge trial offerings. He emphasised the importance of establishing a Covid challenge model as a significant step towards entering a new and expanding market, particularly concerning mucosal and multivalent Covid vaccine development.
On Monday, shares increased by 1.68% in London. Earlier in April, hVivo reported a 44% rise in earnings for 2023, marking a record year in all financial and operational metrics. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) grew to £13 million from £9 million the previous year, while revenue increased by 16% to £56 million. The company ended 2023 with a cash balance of £37 million, up from £28.4 million. Additionally, hVivo projected revenues of approximately £62 million for the current year, with 90% of the 2024 revenue guidance already contracted.
hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc), led by Cathal Friel, 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.
