Emirates news agency – “Great Ormond Street Hospital in London” participates...

ABU DHABI – LONDON, November 2, WAM / The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, “NHS Foundation Trust” in London, is participating in a new study on the possibility of taking the first human challenge to develop a vaccine against the emerging corona virus “Covid-19”.

As part of the UK government’s strategic response to the challenges of the epidemic, the Ministry of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is funding this study through a vaccine task force and an investment of up to 33.6 million pounds sterling, announced plans to conduct the world’s first human challenge to the Covid-19 virus.

Human challenge studies provide a faster method than traditional clinical trials to test vaccines and can work more efficiently in evaluating the effectiveness of vaccines that are being developed against the emerging corona virus.

The “challenge trial” will be joined by healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30, and volunteers will be exposed to the Corona virus through a nasal swab.

The Human Challenge Experience will be implemented at Great Ormond Street Hospital thanks to the modern and advanced facilities of the Zayed Center for Research in Rare Diseases in Children in London, the largest academic facility for developing gene and cell therapy in the United Kingdom and one of the largest research centers in the world.

The researchers will use small doses of the manufactured virus to determine the minimum amount of viruses needed to cause infection with the “Covid-19” virus .. The volunteers will remain in a special unit at the “Royal Free” Hospital and they will be closely monitored, and if the first stage of this study, which is called, is confirmed The name “study the characteristics of the virus” is its success. Researchers will be able to know the effectiveness of the vaccines currently being developed against the Covid-19 virus and prevent its spread.

The research is being conducted based on a partnership agreement between the British government, Imperial College London, Royal Free Hospital in London and hVIVO, a leading medical research and development company that has proven leadership in the human challenge of viruses.

Matt Shaw – CEO of Great Ormond Street Hospital, said, “Research is important now more than ever. The hospital’s commitment to conducting medical research and the state-of-the-art medical facilities at the Zayed Center for Research in Rare Diseases in Children allow us to play an active role in this important study.” .

The Zayed Research Center opened its doors to patients in October 2019 and combines pioneering research and medical services in a single facility as well as providing the best possible care and innovative treatments for children suffering from rare and complex diseases across the UK and abroad.

The Zayed Center for Research on Rare Diseases in Children was inaugurated thanks to a generous grant of £ 60 million from Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chair of the General Women’s Union, Chair of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairperson of the Family Development Foundation in 2014, as well as the major contributions of the “England Research” Institute and the Wolfson Foundation The John Connolly and Audley Griffiths Foundation, the MedFamily Foundation, and the center is the fruit of a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London and the Great Ormond Hospital Children’s Charity.