(The Guardian) The world’s first coronavirus human challenge study will begin in the UK within a month, following approval from the UK’s clinical trials ethics body, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) has announced.
It will involve up to 90 carefully selected, healthy adult volunteers aged between 18 and 30 being exposed to Covid-19 in a safe and controlled environment.
The initial trial aims to establish the smallest amount of virus needed to cause infection, probe the body’s immune response, and explore how the virus is passed on from person to person.
Participants will be closely monitored by medics and scientists 24 hours a day following their exposure to the virus. The team add that the virus used will be the variant that was circulating in the UK last year rather than those that have recently emerged.
