Study looks for people to take part in flu trial

The new vaccine would aim to help prevent flu, trial leaders said

A research delivery centre is looking to recruit patients to investigate the effect of a new drug to prevent flu.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CIOS CRDC) said it was selected as a delivery site for a clinical trial of a new type of vaccine designed to prevent or reduce the severity of infections caused by influenza.

It said because the seasonal flu vaccine relied on the strength of an individual's immune system, its effectiveness could vary from 10% to 60%.

Dr Duncan Browne, from the Royal Cornwall Hospital, said: "It's about giving something back, I suppose, to society... see if we can get new treatments that might benefit us in the future."

The UK's winter flu season has begun five weeks earlier than usual, health officials have been warning.

Last year, nearly 8,000 people died in the UK from flu and, in the 2022-23 flu season, there were nearly 16,000 deaths.

To be eligible for the trail, people had to be 18, not planning to get pregnant and have an underlying condition which put them at increased risk of flu, organisers said.

Dr Browne added some underlying conditions making people eligible included: heart failure, ischemic heart disease, people that needed insulin, people who had had chemotherapy in the last five years, had asthma or COPD needing daily treatment, kidney disease or anyone who took immunosuppressant medicines.

Physical assessments

He added: "People often ask that why should we do medical research... the first is the patients who take part in all studies, 50% will have the active drug and we know from some of the other studies we've done, that can be lifesaving."

Research team lead Jenny Pearce said people who came forward would be assessed physically "to see if they are well enough to do the trial".

She added: "Once they're onto the trial, there's eight further visits over six months on this trial."

She said six visits would be face-to-face and three would be over the phone.