UK to run ‘human challenge’ coronavirus trials in world first
The UK is set to become the first nation to launch “human challenge” trials, after the British government today said it would plug almost £34m into studies where healthy people are deliberately exposed to coronavirus.
The trials, which could begin as soon as January, will aim to speed up the hunt for a vaccine by studying the effectiveness of vaccine prototypes in controlled environments.
The government said it would invest £33.6m in the studies in partnership with Imperial College London, laboratory and trial services company hVIVO and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
If approved by regulators, trial results could be expected by May 2021, the government said.
Human challenge studies provide a much faster way of testing vaccines by eliminating the need to wait for patients to be exposed to an illness naturally.
Up to 90 volunteers aged between 18 and 30 could be involved in early stage trials, the government announced today.
Researchers would first use controlled doses of novel virus to discover the smallest amount of virus it takes to cause Covid-19 infection in volunteers.
Imperial College’s Chris Chiu, lead researcher on the human challenge study, said the trials could increase understanding of the relatively-unknown Covid-19 in unique ways.
“Our number one priority is the safety of the volunteers,” he said. “My team has been safely running human challenge studies with other respiratory viruses for over 10 years. No study is completely risk free, but the Human Challenge Programme partners will be working hard to ensure we make the risks as low as we possibly can.”