Britain is the first country in the world to launch the Human Challenge study, which will require up to 90 volunteers aged 18 to 30 years being exposed to coronavirus in a safe and controlled environment to increase understanding of how the virus affects people.
The trial, which has received ethics approval last month, will start soon.
According to the British government, the study will play a key role in developing effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Human challenge trials over the years have played a vital role in pushing the development of treatments for many diseases, such as malaria and cholera.
Open Orphan (LON:ORPH) was founded in 2017, with the goal of rapidly building Europe’s leading pharma services company by a management team with extensive industry and financial expertise. The company comprises of two commercial specialist CRO services businesses (Venn Life Sciences and hVIVO) and is also developing a genomics data platform business (Genomic Health Data).
