BMJ Blogs: The review of the global first SARS COV 2 Human Infection Challenge studies

Expert and lay members of UK RECs recognised to review Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products (CTIMPs) or Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers, particularly those with experience of vaccine studies, were invited to join an ad hoc Research Ethics Committee to review SARS COV 2 Human Infection Challenge studies (HICS). All were asked to attend two virtual HRA workshops before the first committee meeting (and all did!) and were provided with articles from both sides of the argument for further reading. Given the pandemic lockdown, we met virtually, ensuring broad representation across the UK nations, and that applicants were easily able to attend (of huge help to our review).