hVIVO PLC (AIM:HVO) chief executive Mo Khan says "contract values seem to be increasing" for human challenge studies as he updated Proactive after signing a £13.6mln contract with a US-based biopharmaceutical client to test a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) antiviral drug candidate.
He says "we are recruiting more and more subjects into these challenge trials because our clients are seeing the benefits of the challenge study data."
The Phase 2a double-blinded placebo-controlled human challenge trial will take place at the company's facilities in London and is expected to start in the second half of 2023.
Khan highlights the growing interest from big pharma in developing vaccines for RSV, which targets young children and the elderly, as well as those who are immuno-compromised.
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