ELC Group, a provider of regulatory affairs services, has signed up for the early-stage development of a novel vaccine targeting prevention of influenza. The project signals ELC Group’s entry into the pharmaceutical development market.

The vaccine development will be overseen by a specialist R&D team at ELC Group, including regulatory vaccines experts who have worked on and regulated a number of key worldwide pediatric vaccines. The team includes a number of current advisers to the World Health Organization.

ELC Group is working with pre-clinical partners to carry out toxicity and immunogenicity testing, and is harnessing innovative new techniques to create the novel vaccine. ELC Group will also be responsible for setting up the regulatory pathway to ensure a smooth transition to market and approval from international regulators. The market value of the project assigned to ELC Group is an estimated €1 million.

“We are very excited to be moving into the pharmaceutical development market with this key launch project, targeting an important therapeutic area,” said Marco Rubinstein, chief executive officer, ELC Group. “With the ability to take this product through our concept to commercialization model by our unrivalled team of world-class team experts, we are confident of a successful project delivery.”