Since 2001, the Jenner Research Institute at the University of Oxford has been conducting sometimes controversial medical experiments. In 2017, for example, young adults agreed to place their arms over a jar filled with malaria-infected mosquitoes in order to test the new R21 vaccine. The participants then had to hope that the vaccine was effective enough to prevent them from developing the disease following their bites.
This method, which is based on volunteering, is called a “human challenge trial” and is sometimes translated into French as “provocation study”. It seems to have become quite popular in recent decades, reports the BBC. It must be said that it has borne fruit on several occasions: the R21 vaccine, to take his example, is 80% effective in preventing malaria and has become the second anti-malaria vaccine in history to be recommended by the WHO.
“There’s been a remarkable renaissance in challenge studies over the last 20 years,” says Adrian Hill, professor of vaccinology and director of the Jenner Institute. “Challenge models have been used for everything from influenza to COVID-19. That’s been really important.”
Today, scientists are seeking to infect volunteers with more and more diseases, in the hopes of developing ever more effective vaccines and treatments. Pathogens such as Zika, typhoid fever and cholera have already been tested in clinical trials. Other viruses, such as hepatitis C, are being discussed as potential candidates. Although there is no central registry of challenge studies, Hill estimates that they have contributed to at least a dozen vaccines over the past two decades.
Ethical controversies
There is, however, a feeling of unease…
- Slate.fr
