Dublin-listed pharmaceutical services company Open Orphan has signed an option to acquire a company which supports drug trials "for a nominal sum".
Open Orphan, a European-focused, rare and orphan drug consulting services platform, informed the Irish stock exchange on Wednesday that it had signed the option to acquire CHIMagents Limited.
CHIMagents assists in the design, manufacture and testing of products known as challenge agents. These agents are used in so-called challenge studies. Challenge studies involve the intentional infection of research participants.
Under the terms of the option, Open Orphan will have three months to acquire the business.
"The work CHIMagents is undertaking in relation to Covid-19 challenge agents also complements our own work and we look forward to updating all shareholders on that workstream in due course," said Cathal Friel, executive chairman of Open Orphan.
Open Orphan is the result of Mr Friel reversing his pharma services business of the same name into Dublin-listed drug clinical trials manager Venn Life Sciences last year.
