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Britain is the first country in the world to announce plans to use this controversial method, which could help study the coronavirus and possibly speed up vaccine development, writes The Associated Press.
This type of research, also known as human defiance research, is used infrequently because some believe it is unethical and too risky to do so.
However, scientists fighting COVID-19 disagree, saying the risk is justified because such research can quickly identify the most effective vaccines and help control the disease, which has already killed more than 1.1 millions of people around the world. people.
“Deliberate infection of volunteers is never welcome,” says Professor Peter Openhaw, one of the researchers. “But such research is extremely informative.”
Human challenge studies have previously been used to develop vaccines against diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and malaria.
Imperial College London announced Tuesday that the study, which will involve volunteers aged 18-30, will be carried out in collaboration with the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal London NHS Foundation and hVIVO, which has experience in human challenge research. The government plans to invest $ 33.6 million in research. pounds (36.76 million euros).
Governments around the world are funding countries’ efforts to develop a vaccine in hopes of ending a pandemic that has hit the international economy, shutting down many businesses and leaving millions unemployed.
46 potential vaccines are already being tested in humans, 11 of which are in late-stage trials, and good results are expected to be announced later this year or early 2021.
The human challenge study in the UK is promised to start in January, with the first results expected in May. However, investigations must first be approved by an ethics committee before they can begin.
“While one or more vaccines will likely be approved by then, the study will remain relevant because the world may need multiple vaccines to adequately protect different populations, as well as discover treatments for those who are sick,” says Dr. Michael Jacobs, an infectious disease consultant at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, who will also be involved in the study.
Tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world have already signed up to participate in more traditional COVID-19 vaccine trials. Therefore, critics of the human challenge study question whether healthy people should cause the virus when the disease is still widespread and vaccine development is already happening fairly quickly.
In the first phase of the UK challenge study, researchers will infect the virus with 90 volunteers who will be paid with nasal drops. The researchers chose this method of infection to determine the minimal form of infection necessary to cause COVID-19. Finally, the same model will be used to test the efficacy of potential vaccines.
The tests will take place at the Royal Hospital of London. Volunteers will be monitored for at least a year, even after the study, to make sure they have no long-term effects.
Human challenge studies are usually done by testing vaccines against milder infections to avoid causing serious illness in volunteers if the vaccine doesn’t work. For most people, the coronavirus only causes mild to moderate symptoms, and young, healthy people seem to contract the virus with particular ease.
However, the long-term effects of the disease have not been well studied and there have been reports of prolonged heart and other organ disorders, even after recovery from the coronavirus. Covid-19 is also very unpredictable, and there have also been cases around the world where the virus is infected and seriously ill, even in young and previously completely healthy people or even children.
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