Open Orphan plc

("Open Orphan" or the "Company")

Presentation at World Vaccine Congress

hVIVO presents on the outcomes from the world's first COVID-19 characterisation study

Open Orphan plc (AIM: ORPH), a rapidly growing specialist contract research organisation (CRO) and world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge clinical trials, announces that Dr Andrew Catchpole, Chief Scientific Officer of hVIVO, a subsidiary of Open Orphan plc, will be delivering a presentation at the World Vaccine Congress, Washington D.C., United States, titled 'Outcome of the world's first SARS-CoV-2 viral challenge and its utility for vaccine testing'.

Dr Catchpole will be presenting the results from the world's first COVID-19 characterisation study, which was a partnership between hVIVO, Imperial College London, the Vaccine Taskforce and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The landmark study, published in Nature Medicine on 31 March 2022, found that a SARS-CoV-2 human challenge is safe in healthy young adults and provided detailed insights into the course of COVID-19 infection with potential positive public health implications, which will also be outlined in Dr Catchpole's presentation.

Full details of the presentation are included below:

The World Vaccine Congress will take place at the Marriott Marquis in Washington DC between 18-21 April 2022. hVIVO will be at booth 410 during the congress for potential partnering discussions.

The World Vaccine Congress is the largest and most established meeting dedicated to vaccines and has run for 21 years. In that period, it has evolved and grown into the leading vaccines congress globally, with hundreds of speakers and thousands of attendees from leading global vaccines developers, academia and policymakers.

More information about the event, including attendance, can be found here.

Yamin 'Mo' Khan, Chief Executive Officer at Open Orphan, said: "I am delighted that Andrew will be presenting at the largest vaccine event of the year, highlighting the pivotal role hVIVO played in the world's first COVID-19 characterisation study."

Interested in becoming a volunteer?

hVIVO recruits many of its volunteers for its challenge study clinical trials through its dedicated volunteer recruitment website, www.flucamp.com. By volunteering to take part in one of our studies in a safe, controlled, clinical environment under expertly supervised conditions you are playing your part to further medical research and help increase the understanding of respiratory illnesses. 

For further information please contact:

Notes to Editors

Open Orphan plc (London and Euronext: ORPH) is a rapidly growing contract research company that is a world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge clinical trials. The Company provides services to Big Pharma, biotech, and government/public health organisations.

The Company has a leading portfolio of human challenge study models for infectious and respiratory diseases and is developing a number of new models, such as malaria and COVID-19, to address the dramatic growth of the global infectious disease market. The Paris and Breda offices have over 25 years of experience providing drug development services such as biometry, data management, statistics CMC, PK and medical writing to third party clients as well as supporting the London-based challenge studies.

Open Orphan runs challenge studies in London from its Whitechapel quarantine clinic, its state-of-the-art QMB clinic with its highly specialised on-site virology and immunology laboratory, and its newly opened clinic in Plumbers Row. To recruit volunteers / patients for its studies, the Company leverages its unique clinical trial recruitment capacity via its FluCamp volunteer screening facilities in London and Manchester. The newly opened facilities have expanded the scope of the business to enable the offering of Phase I and Phase II vaccine field trials, PK studies, bridging studies, and patient trials as part of large international multi-centre studies.

Building upon its many years of challenge studies and virology research, the Company is developing an in-depth database of infectious disease progression data. Based on the Company's Disease in Motion® platform, this unique dataset includes clinical, immunological, virological, and digital (wearable) biomarkers.