EDITORIAL: WELCOME HAPPENING; CHIS
Current Affairs for 26th July, 2023 from "THE HINDU"
EDITORIAL: WELCOME HAPPENING; CHIS
With the Bioethics Unit of the ICMR placing a consensus policy statement on Controlled Human Infection Studies (CHIS) for comments, India has taken the first step in clearing the deck for such studies.
Also called human challenge studies, where healthy volunteers are intentionally exposed to a disease-causing microbe in a highly controlled and monitored environment, CHIS has been carried out for hundreds of years.
Typically, a less virulent strain of the microbe is used to study less deadly diseases that have proven drugs for treatment. When used as part of vaccine development, these studies are initiated only when safety and immune responses of candidate vaccine are known. Phase-3 clinical trials that follow CHIS require fewer candidates.
In 2020, WHO approved using human challenge for accelerating COVID-19 vaccine development.
However, there are several challenges with this study which require robust systems in place. The scope for misuse and exploitation is vast and the repercussions can also be severe.