Britain could be the first country to host clinical trials in which volunteers are deliberately infected with the new coronavirus to test the effectiveness of vaccine candidates, the Financial Times reported, citing people involved in the project. So-called “challenge trials” are expected to begin in January at a quarantine facility in London, the report said, adding that around 2,000 participants had signed up through a US-based advocacy group, 1Day Sooner .
Britain said it was working with partners on the potential for human challenge trials without commenting on a specific plan.
“We are working with partners to understand how we could collaborate on the potential development of a COVID-19 vaccine through human challenge studies,” said a government spokeswoman.
“These discussions are part of our work to investigate ways to treat, limit and hopefully prevent the virus so that we can end the pandemic sooner.”
Human challenge trials deliberately expose participants to infection, in order to study diseases and test vaccines or treatments. “They have been used for influenza, malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and cholera. Researchers are exploring whether human challenge trials could support the development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19,” says the group of 1Day Sooner defense on their website.
The FT reported that the studies will be funded by the government, although 1Day Sooner said it would also launch a request for public funding for a biocontainment facility large enough to quarantine 100 to 200 participants.
Imperial College London, purportedly the academic leader of the trials, did not confirm the studies.
“Imperial continues to engage in a wide range of exploratory discussions related to COVID-19 research, with a variety of partners. We have nothing more to report at this stage,” said a spokeswoman who was asked about the possibility of conduct challenge trials.
Any trial conducted in the UK must be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the health regulator that deals with safety and protocol.
The MHRA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, but 1Day Sooner, which advocates for challenge trials to accelerate vaccine development, welcomed the report.
“1Day Sooner congratulates the British government on its plans to conduct challenge trials to test vaccines,” it said in a statement, confirming that it would request the government to house trial participants.
“These trials will help make covid vaccines equally accessible to everyone around the world. This makes it critical to build a Challenge Study Center that can host 100 to 200 participants at a time.”
The industry has seen discussions in recent months about the possibility of having to inject healthy volunteers with the new coronavirus if drug makers struggled to find enough patients for final trials.
The FT report said that volunteers would first be inoculated with a vaccine and then receive a challenge dose of the coronavirus. He did not mention the vaccines that would be evaluated in the project.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca and French firm Sanofi told Reuters that their vaccine candidates were not involved in the program.
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