Open Orphan plc (ORPH ), has appointed Elaine Sullivan as a Non-Executive Director to the Board. 

Appointment of NED 

Elaine Sullivan is the CEO of Curadh Pharmaceuticals, a European Oncology company, with an in-depth background and knowledge of virology, having received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in Molecular Virology.  

Elaine brings over 25 years of industry experience and has been a member of the most senior R&D management teams in Lilly and AstraZeneca with extensive start-up experience having been a founder of Carrick Therapeutics and helped to raise over €100m of investor funds as CEO of Carrick in recent years.  

Elaine is a Non-Executive Director at IP Group plc, Active Biotech AB and is a member of the Supervisory Board at Evotec, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. 

Elaine Sullivan, Incoming Non-Executive Director, Open Orphan, said: “I am delighted to join the board of Open Orphan. I have been impressed by the outstanding  progress that Cathal Friel, the Board and the team have made in such a short time. I look forward to working with them in the next stage of the evolution of Open Orphan.” 

Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman, Open Orphan, said: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Elaine to the Open Orphan board. Her level of expertise in virology alongside her exceptional career in the industry will be an excellent addition to the Company. We look forward to working closely with Elaine who brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be invaluable addition to the Company as we now grow Open Orphan substantially in its next phase of rapid development.”. 

Directorate Change 

The Company also announces that Mark Warne, Non-Executive Director, will be stepping down from the Board of Open Orphan on the 31st of December. Mark had been on the Board of hVIVO plc prior to its acquisition by Open Orphan and assisted with the integration of hVIVO with the Open Orphan group. 

Cathal added; “We would like to thank Mark Warne for his service to the Company and for remaining on the Board to allow for a smooth integration of the companies during the transition period following the acquisition of hVIVO.” 

3 Reasons to Follow Open Orphan:  

Open Orphan is a rapidly growing CRO pharmaceutical services company which is the world leader in the testing of vaccines and antivirals through the use of human challenge clinical trials.  

Open Orphan comprises of two commercial specialist CRO services businesses, hVIVO  and  Venn Life Sciences and is also building out a valuable data platform business. All businesses are now working closely together to offer upselling and cross selling opportunities.  

World Class Facilities  

Open has Europe's only 24-bedroom quarantine clinic with onsite virology providing individually isolated rooms and specialist laboratory facilities. The hVIVO facility offers highly specialised virology and immunology laboratory services to support pre-clinical and clinical respiratory drug, antiviral, and vaccine discovery and development.  

Largest Test Portfolio  

The Company has a leading portfolio of 8 viral challenge study models, which are: 2 FLU, 2 RSV, 1 HRV, 1 Asthma, 1 cough and 1 COPD viral challenge models. As announced in early March 2020, Open Orphan is also rapidly advancing a number of Coronavirus challenge study models and expects to be helping many COVID-19 vaccine development companies to test their vaccines.  

No other company in the world has such a portfolio, with only two competitors globally having 1 challenge study model each. hVIVO also works with companies in the UK and Ireland to provide COVID-19 testing to staff to protect staff and customers from a workplace COVID-19 outbreak through its COVID Clear offering.  

Rapidly Expanding Market with Regular Positive Newsflow  

The market for vaccine development and testing has grown rapidly over the past six months, largely due to the outbreak of Covid-19.  

However, Open Orphan now believes Governments and International pharmaceutical companies around the world will be making enormous ‘catch-up investments’ in all types of vaccine development to ensure the effects of any pandemic can be mitigated in the future, which should result in the hIVO facility being booked out for months, if not years, in advance going forward.  

The Company is committed to providing regular Newsflow to ensure investors of all classes are fully briefed on the Investment opportunity for Open Orphan. 

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