- Joined
- Mar 31, 2020
- Messages
- 9,153
- Points
- 113
HEALTHY young Brits will be paid up to £4,500 to be deliberately infected with coronavirus in a new trial.
The groundbreaking human study will then pave the way to test out vaccines and probe the effect of variants on people.
The first-of-its kind trial investigating how the bug affects humans is set to start next month.
Up to 90 volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be exposed to a small amount of coronavirus in a controlled environment at London's Royal Free Hospital.
Imperial College London scientists and NHS experts will monitor the volunteers for two-and-a-half weeks, and for a further 12 months to track any long Covid possibilities.
Professor Sir Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Health Research Authority (HRA), said: "The initial stay involves quite an imposition on a young person - 17 days in quarantine and you cannot be visited by any member of your family or friend or relative.
"For the first £1,500 for 17 days we've got something like £88 a day, which I don't think anyone would sense was a ridiculous coercion or inducement."
The study will eventually be able to test any new vaccines or boosters that may be needed to fight variants - but this element of the trial has yet to be approved.
Professor Robert Read explained the trial will also allow new treatments to be explored - which won't be possible once cases have dropped and there aren't as many people in hospital.
Dr Andrew Catchpole, chief scientific officer at clinical company hVIVO, which has pioneered viral human challenge models, said: "This first trial will also then be a critical platform and critical learnings that we can then translate to any new variant viruses, should we need to put a variant virus into the model.
"It will take us approximately three to four months, probably, to manufacture a new variant of virus, should that be required.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14074916/brit...rial-infection/
The groundbreaking human study will then pave the way to test out vaccines and probe the effect of variants on people.
The first-of-its kind trial investigating how the bug affects humans is set to start next month.
Up to 90 volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be exposed to a small amount of coronavirus in a controlled environment at London's Royal Free Hospital.
Imperial College London scientists and NHS experts will monitor the volunteers for two-and-a-half weeks, and for a further 12 months to track any long Covid possibilities.
Professor Sir Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Health Research Authority (HRA), said: "The initial stay involves quite an imposition on a young person - 17 days in quarantine and you cannot be visited by any member of your family or friend or relative.
"For the first £1,500 for 17 days we've got something like £88 a day, which I don't think anyone would sense was a ridiculous coercion or inducement."
The study will eventually be able to test any new vaccines or boosters that may be needed to fight variants - but this element of the trial has yet to be approved.
Professor Robert Read explained the trial will also allow new treatments to be explored - which won't be possible once cases have dropped and there aren't as many people in hospital.
Dr Andrew Catchpole, chief scientific officer at clinical company hVIVO, which has pioneered viral human challenge models, said: "This first trial will also then be a critical platform and critical learnings that we can then translate to any new variant viruses, should we need to put a variant virus into the model.
"It will take us approximately three to four months, probably, to manufacture a new variant of virus, should that be required.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14074916/brit...rial-infection/
