Anthony S Gilbert
hVIVO, UK
Title: The human viral challenge model: Accelerating drug and vaccine development
Biography
Biography: Anthony S Gilbert
Abstract
Since the beginning of the millennium, human viral challenge studies have successfully been conducted at hVIVO to develop a series of well-characterized virus stocks, whilst demonstrating that the Human Viral Challenge Model (HVCM) could be effective in offering clients a faster and cost effective route to market for their therapeutics. The Human Viral Challenge Model enables global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as leading academic groups and government institutions, to undertake scientific research, accelerate the drug development timeline and reduce the cost of bringing antiviral drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to market. The HVCM also enables fundamental research into the human response to infection and crucial research into modes of infection and transmission between individuals in the community. As hVIVO has grown and developed, the HVCM has become widely accepted as an alternative to traditional early stage field trials to show the efficacy of antiviral and vaccine therapeutics in Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Human Rhinovirus (HRV). By monitoring the entire disease lifecycle as subjects move from healthy to sick and recover back to healthy again, we can obtain high quality, longitudinal data from the before, during and after phases of disease. The model can be used to study the efficacy of new therapies and also to study the target disease itself.