J&J identifies lead candidate for Covid-19 vaccine

Major pharma company Johnson & Johnson has announced it has identified a lead vaccine candidate for Covid-19 following months of research and development work.

Johnson & Johnson is now accelerating its work on the vaccine and is aiming to start a phase 1 clinical study in September this year. Under this timeframe, Johnson & Johnson estimates that the vaccine could be used under emergency requirements in early 2021. The company will also make available the clinical data on safety and efficacy on the vaccine by the end of this year.

Johnson & Johnson have also announced a new partnership with the US Department of Health and Human Services on co-funded vaccine research, development, and clinical testing. The company will work the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) on vaccine resource efforts using its proprietary technology, personnel, and expertise, as well as a $1 billion investment. More so, BARDA and Johnson & Johnson will work together to expand their work to identify potential antiviral treatments against the coronavirus.

Recognising the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak, Johnson & Johnson is also expanding its global manufacturing capacity through the establishment of new US vaccine capabilities and scaled-up capacity in other countries. The expanded capacity will enable Johnson & Johnson to supply over 1 billion doses of a global Covid-19 vaccine. More so, the vaccine will be made available to the public on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use.

Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive officer, Johnson & Johnson, said: “The world is facing an urgent public health crisis and we are committed to doing our part to make a Covid-19 vaccine available and affordable globally as quickly as possible. As the world’s largest healthcare company, we feel a deep responsibility to improve the health of people around the world every day. Johnson & Johnson is well positioned through our combination of scientific expertise, operational scale and financial strength to bring our resources in collaboration with others to accelerate the fight against this pandemic.” 

Paul Stoffels, vice chairman of the Executive Committee and chief scientific officer, Johnson & Johnson, added: “We greatly value the US government’s confidence and support for our R&D efforts. Johnson & Johnson’s global team of experts has ramped up our research and development processes to unprecedented levels, and our teams are working tirelessly alongside BARDA, scientific partners, and global health authorities. We are very pleased to have identified a lead vaccine candidate from the constructs we have been working on since January. We are moving on an accelerated timeline toward Phase 1 human clinical trials at the latest by September 2020 and, supported by the global production capability that we are scaling up in parallel to this testing, we expect a vaccine could be ready for emergency use in early 2021.”