The company, formerly Open Orphan, said that it had signed a £2.5m (€2.9m) contract with an unnamed mid-sized pharmaceutical company to initiate an Omicron characterisation study which aims to identify a dose of the challenge agent that hVivo developed last year which establishes a safe, measurable and reproducible disease in healthy volunteers.
That in turn will enable testing of associated antivirals and vaccines in the future.
The company will use its volunteer recruitment arm, Flucamp, to recruit healthy 18-30-year-old volunteers who have previously received a full course of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The study will take place at hVivo’s new, dedicated, quarantine facilities in London’s Canary Wharf.
The facilities have been developed in partnership with pharmaceutical companies.
It features quarantine bedrooms, advanced laboratories, an outpatient unit and corporate offices, across two floors.
The Omicron study is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the majority of revenue recognised in 2025.
Dependent on the successful completion of the study and regulatory approvals, the company said that it expects to conduct multiple Omicron human challenge trials to test the efficacy of medical products from mid-2025.
Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan, the CEO, said a key goal for hVIVO is to further diversify its 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 multivalent Covid vaccine development,” Mr Khan said.
Shares were up 1.68pc in London yesterday.
In April, hVivo reported a 44pc rise in earnings in 2023 in a “record year across all financial and operational metrics”.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased to £13m from £9m a year earlier.
Revenue was up 16pc across the year to £56m.
The group had cash of £37m at the end of 2023, up from £28.4m.
The company said in April that it expects revenues of around £62m this year, with 90pc of 2024 revenue guidance already contracted.
