Within a few weeks, researchers will deliberately expose dozens of healthy young volunteers to the new coronavirus. This trial, which will take place in the United Kingdom, will be the world’s first COVID-19 human challenge.
The U.K. government approved it on February 17 after a review of the trial’s design and ethics. This research seeks to learn how much virus is required to kick-start an infection. Later, researchers might address other questions, such as how well different vaccines work against the virus.
In challenge trials, people volunteer to be infected with a germ. Afterward, researchers closely study the progression of disease in these people or how they respond to potential treatments.
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).
