Major New Contract Signed

Open Orphan plc (ORPH) a rapidly growing specialist CRO pharmaceutical services company which is the world leader in the testing of vaccines and antivirals using human challenge study models, is pleased to announce that it has signed a major contract with a leading vaccine developer and one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world.

The contract with Venn Life Sciences, which is part of Open Orphan, builds on earlier successful contracts between the companies and is to obtain and support market access of newly developed vaccines into the EU and US markets until the end of 2020.

The contact demonstrates Venn Life Sciences' ability to service leading vaccine developers which in turn benefits hVIVO, also part of Open Orphan, as cross-selling opportunities arise. The contract demonstrates Venn Life Sciences' unique combination of drug development expertise, clinical trial design and execution services.

This fits with Open Orphan's strategic aim of becoming a leading pharma services provider globally with particular expertise across the Company in providing services to the rapidly growing vaccines industry.

Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman of Open Orphan, commented:

"We are delighted to have signed this contract with a leading vaccine developer and one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. This contract reinforces Open Orphan's position as one of the leading service providers to the vaccine industry globally. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccine industry is now an increasingly important and rapidly growing sector with many large pharmaceutical companies now directing huge amounts of resources towards their vaccine divisions to progress both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 vaccines. Open Orphan is ideally positioned to capitalise upon this trend as we build the Company into a growing, profitable pharmaceutical services business."