Last Friday marked a significant milestone as CHDR opened its brand-new isolation rooms. Specifically designed for pioneering research in therapeutics and vaccines targeting infectious diseases, these cutting-edge facilities are equipped to conduct Controlled Human Infection Model (CHIM) studies involving class 2 pathogens.
CHIM studies are clinical studies that involve deliberately exposing healthy volunteers to infectious pathogens. CHDR develops these models to test the effectiveness of potential new vaccines and treatments in the early stage of the clinical development. The timelines for developing vaccines against infectious diseases are lengthy, and frequently candidate vaccines that reach the large Phase III field trials fail to demonstrate its anticipated level of protective efficacy. With the application of CHIMs, CHDR invests in the acceleration of the clinical development of candidate vaccines and anti-virals in early clinical phases.
CHDR performs this research in close collaboration with Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) departments of infectious diseases, biosafety, immunology, microbiology and clinical pharmacy and toxicology. We are looking forward to further expanding our infectious diseases research in close collaboration with the LUMC.
