hVIVO PLC on Thursday noted Pneumagen Ltd’s report of successful clinical proof of concept for its broad-spectrum antiviral candidate Neumifil.

hVIVO is a London-based specialist contract research organisation which tests for infectious and respiratory vaccines. Pneumagen is a St Andrews, Scotland-based clinical-stage biotech company.

The phase 2a influenza human challenge study trial was run by hVIVO.

It enrolled 104 healthy adult volunteers, and evaluated two dose regimens of Neumifil, administered as an intranasal spray to participants who were subsequently infected with influenza virus.

Results showed that Neumifil demonstrated a ‘clinically significant reduction’ in the incidence of symptomatic influenza infection and in the severity of symptoms, which achieved statistical significance compared to placebo.

Based on these results, Pneumagen now plans to advance Neumifil into further clinical studies. One of these will look at whether Neumifil can reduce the incidence of viral induced exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

‘We are delighted to see Pneumagen obtain these results clearly achieving clinical proof of concept for Neumifil, which has supported Pneumogen’s decision to progress the candidate into further clinical studies, including in patients with COPD,’ said Chief Scientific Officer Andrew Catchpole.

He added: ‘This is another example of the value of human challenge trials in delivering clinical efficacy data and de-risking later clinical development.’

hVIVO shares were trading 0.8% higher at 20.16 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

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