Hvivo scores £2.5m contract for Omicron characterisation study

Contract research organisation Hvivo has secured a £2.5m contract with a mid-sized pharmaceutical company to initiate an Omicron characterisation study after the manufacture of its Omicron BA.5 challenge agent was successfully completed in 2023.

Hvivo said on Monday that the study aims to identify a dose of its Omicron BA.5 challenge agent that establishes a "safe, measurable and reproducible disease" in healthy volunteers with sufficiently high infection rates to then be able to use the model to test the efficacy of antivirals and vaccines in the future.

The AIM-listed company stated its volunteer recruitment arm, FluCamp, will recruit healthy volunteers aged 18-30 years, and was expected to commence in Q4, with the majority of revenue recognised in 2025.

Hvivo noted that dependent on the successful completion of the characterisation study and receipt of relevant regulatory approvals, it expects to conduct multiple Omicron human challenge trials to test the efficacy of medical products from mid-2025.

Chief executive Yamin Khan said: "One of our key goals at Hvivo is to further diversify our challenge trial offerings. The establishment of a Covid challenge model is a key step to penetrating a new and expanding market, especially with regards to mucosal and multi-valent Covid vaccine development. This study will take place at our new CL3 quarantine facility in Canary Wharf, which will open shortly. The new site, which was largely funded by a number of key clients, is the largest human challenge trial quarantine clinic in the world and is highly specialised in its design to facilitate the safe conduct of challenge studies. Securing this contract further validates the move to our new facilities and the new opportunities it brings for CL3 category projects."

As of 1030 BST, Hvivo shares were up 0.54% at 26.95p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com