UK to infect healthy volunteers in vaccine research trial
UK to infect healthy volunteers in vaccine research trial
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will help to fund trials using a manufactured COVID-19 virus to deliberately infect young healthy volunteers with the hope of accelerating the development of vaccines against it.
The government said on Tuesday it will invest 33.6 million pounds ($43.5 million) in the so-called “human challenge” trials in partnership with Imperial College London, laboratory and trial services company hVIVO and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
If approved by regulators and an ethics committee, the studies will start in January with results expected by May 2021, the government said.
Using controlled doses of virus, the aim of the research team â
