07-05-2025
Results from the VirTus Respiratory Research Ltd Human Rhinovirus Challenge Model Used to Advance Altesa BioSciences' Lead Medicine into Advanced Clinical Trials
Professor Sebastian Johnston
Study conducted by VirTus Respiratory Research demonstrated that vapendavir has potent antiviral activity and improves symptoms in participants with COPD infected with rhinovirus
LONDON, May 07, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VirTus Respiratory Research Ltd, a leading respiratory-focused contract research organisation (CRO), today announced that results from their human rhinovirus challenge model in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) provided Altesa BioSciences with compelling evidence to advance their lead drug candidate, vapendavir, into large scale, late-stage clinical trials.
Rhinovirus infection is the cause of at least half of the acute respiratory deteriorations experienced by the millions of patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. "Before advancing vapendavir into clinical trials testing vapendavir on thousands of patients costing tens of millions of dollars, it was critical to demonstrate beneficial effects of the drug in a proof-of-concept study," said Dr. Brett Giroir, CEO of Altesa and former US Assistant Secretary for Health and Acting FDA Commissioner. "After literally searching the globe, we determined that VirTus was the only place that could safely, effectively, and reliably conduct this study on actual volunteers with COPD."
The randomised, placebo-controlled study enrolled and evaluated 40 volunteers with COPD, the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide. Pre-screened COPD patients were challenged with a known-to-be safe strain of rhinovirus and randomized after onset of symptoms. Recruitment involved contacting over 10,000 potential volunteers primarily through targeted social media campaigns, highlighting the innovative approach VirTus employs to ensure efficient and successful participant engagement.
"These positive results underline the effectiveness of our human virus challenge model to rapidly assess clinical efficacy of novel medicines early in their clinical development pathway," said Professor Sebastian Johnston, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at VirTus. "This approach allows our biotech and pharmaceutical industry partners to gain early, meaningful clinical data, helping them to make confident go/no-go decisions in their drug development pipeline."
VirTus' human virus challenge model offers sponsors the opportunity to evaluate treatments in a controlled environment, significantly reducing uncertainty, time and cost associated with much larger, traditional early clinical development studies.
