UK approves trials that will deliberately infect volunteers with Coronavirus

With medics and scientists standing by 24 hours a day, researchers will inject quarantined carefully controlled doses of coronavirus into the noses of volunteers. This set of volunteers did not receive vaccines. The idea is to start with the smallest possible amount with which researchers can measure infection levels, symptoms and transmission methods while trying to ensure the safety of the volunteers.

If all goes well, a second phase of trials is planned to include the use of vaccines – researchers have not specified which ones – to test how well they are protected against symptoms and possible transmission. Vaccinations are given to healthy volunteers, who are then deliberately infected with coronavirus, again in confined spaces to contain the virus.

Scientific and medical-ethical views on the proposed trials have been divergent since the UK announced its plans in October, with the green light of the week making the UK a pandemic outlier. Previous challenge trials have focused on malaria, typhoid, cholera and influenza.

Some public health experts argue that high infection rates negate the need for such trials, as there is ample opportunity to study the virus in people who contract it naturally without endangering the health of more people. Others say there is no substitute for strictly controlled studies to help vaccine development so shots can quickly reach more people around the world.

But young, healthy people sometimes suffer from severe Covid symptoms, and there is no proven, disguise treatment for people who become seriously ill.

“As the current treatment options for Covid-19 are limited, it is important that volunteers from the group are obtained with the lowest risk and are closely monitored throughout the course of the study,” said Dr. Charlie Weller, head of vaccinations at the Wellcome. Trust, said Wednesday. He said that a challenge test, done properly, can provide valuable insights into the impact of the virus from the moment of infection, which can lead to new treatments as well as vaccinations.

The debate over vaccinating people with live, powerful viruses has been going on for centuries. In a now famous experiment in the late 1700s, the British doctor Edward Jenner injected a child with material from a smallpox injury and then recorded details of the boy’s reaction.

Researchers at Imperial College London and the state-run National Health Service are working with a private UK drug testing company called hVIVO Services Ltd., with experience in challenging trials, manufacturing the virus, researching volunteers and others. make arrangements. The London Royal Free Hospital, which has clinical test rooms designed to contain viruses, is offering volunteers who are being tried for their time in quarantine. The British Taskforce Vaccines, which was set up last year to coordinate the government’s purchase and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, is also a partner.

The virus used in the trials will be an earlier version that has been spreading in the UK since early 2020, not a more transmissible variant that emerged later in the country, the government said. This is because the earlier version appears to have a low risk for young, healthy adults.

An American non-profit organization created early in the pandemic to recruit people for challenge trials, according to Abie Rohrig, spokeswoman for the non-profit organization 1Day Sooner, reported 3,500 volunteers in the UK. Only a small number will qualify, he said. British researchers on Wednesday asked for more volunteers.

Write to Jenny Strasburg by [email protected]