Covid-19: Johnson and Johnson hopes to begin coronavirus vaccine trials by September

 Johnson and Johnson has announced that it has been working on a vaccine for Covid-19 since January and hopes to begin trials by September this year.

Through a landmark new partnership, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Johnson and Johnson together have committed more than $1 billion (R17.8 billion) of investment to co-fund vaccine research, development and clinical testing.

The company expects to initiate human clinical studies of its lead vaccine candidate at the latest by September 2020 and anticipates that the first batches of a Covid-19 vaccine could be available for emergency use authorisation in early 2021.

Alex Gorsky, the chairman and CEO of Johnson and 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 and Johnson began efforts in January, as soon as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) sequence became available, to research potential vaccine candidates. Through collaborations with scientists at multiple academic institutions, the vaccine constructs were then tested to identify those with the most promise in producing an immune response in preclinical testing.

Based on this work, Johnson and Johnson has identified a lead Covid-19 vaccine candidate (with two back-ups), which will progress into the first manufacturing steps. Under an accelerated timeline, the company is aiming to initiate a Phase 1 clinical study in September 2020, with clinical data on safety and efficacy expected to be available by the end of the year. This could allow vaccine availability for emergency use in early 2021. For comparison, the typical vaccine development process involves a number of different research stages, spanning five to seven years, before a candidate is even considered for approval.

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