UK approves human challenge trials

LONDON: Britain became the first country in the world on Wednesday to give the go-ahead for human challenge trials in which volunteers will be deliberatelyexposedtocovid-19toadvanceresearch into the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The trial, due to start within a month, will see up to 90 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 30 exposed to the smallest amount of the virus needed to cause infection, scientists behind the plans told reporters at a news briefing.

Volunteers will be screened for possible health risks before being allowed to take part, and kept in quarantine for close monitoring by medical staff for at least 14 days in a specialist unit at London’s Royal Free Hospital.

“The absolute priority, of course, is the safety of volunteers,” said Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, which is co-leading the project with the UK government’s vaccines task force and the clinical company HVIVO. “None of us wants to do this if there is any appreciable risk.”

Scientists have used human challenge trials for decades to learn more about diseases such as malaria, flu, typhoid and cholera, and to develop treatments and vaccines against them.

Participants in the UK COVID-19 challenge trial will be allowed to go home ater the initial 14 days only if “extensive testing” shows they are not infectious, said Imperial’s Chris Chiu, the trial’s chief investigator.

Campaigners from a group called 1Day Sooner, which has been lobbying governments around the world to conduct human challenge trials with the novel coronavirus, welcomed the UK’S move, saying it would accelerate research into COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.