(Sharecast News) - Contract research organisation hVIVO announced on Thursday that in a recent phase 2a influenza human challenge study it conducted, Pneumagen's antiviral candidate Neumifil demonstrated successful clinical proof of concept.
The AIM-traded firm said the study, which maintained a randomised, double-blind, and placebo-controlled methodology, enrolled 104 healthy adult volunteers via hVIVO's FluCamp platform.
After being administered two dose regimens of Neumifil via an intranasal spray, participants were subsequently infected with the influenza virus.
Notably, the administered Neumifil reduced the incidence of symptomatic flu, curtailed the severity of symptoms and was well-tolerated by participants with no emergent adverse events or new safety signals compared to its preliminary human study.
"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 Dr Andrew Catchpole.
"This is another example of the value of human challenge trials in delivering clinical efficacy data and de-risking later clinical development."
At 1443 BST, shares in hVIVO were up 0.7% at 20.14p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
hVIVO (HVO)