UK world-first Covid-19 trial deliberately infecting young adults to advance research is safe, says study

Trial exposed 36 healthy volunteers aged 18-29 to original Sars-CoV-2 strain of virus then monitored them in a quarantined setting

Researchers, who plan to begin similar study using Delta variant, have laid groundwork for future studies to test new vaccines and medicines

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The shadow of a pedestrian cast across the Covid-19 Memorial Wall in London. A new study involving healthy young people being deliberately infected with the original strain of the virus in order to advance research has been successful. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:14am, 3 Feb 2022Updated: 2:30am, 3 Feb 2022

The world’s first “human challenge” trial in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to Covid-19 to advance research into the disease was found to be safe in healthy young adults, leaders of the study said on Wednesday.

The data supports the safety of this model and lays the groundwork for future studies to test new vaccines and medicines against the virus using this kind of trial by the end of this year, the team added.

Open Orphan is running the project, launched last February, with Imperial College London, Britain’s vaccines task force and Orphan’s clinical company  hVIVO.

Scientists have used human challenge trials for decades to learn more about diseases such as malaria, flu, typhoid and cholera, and to develop treatments and vaccines against them.

The Imperial trial exposed 36 healthy male and female volunteers aged 18-29 years to the original Sars-CoV-2 strain of the virus and monitored them in a quarantined setting. They will be followed up for 12 months after discharge.