One Billion Coronavirus Vaccine Coming. Human Testing Begins September 2020

American multinational corporation Johnson & Johnson reported that it has 1 billion #Coronavirus vaccine on the way. The vaccine has been in development since January and testing will begins in September. According to BGR, Johnson & Johnson, after partnering with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), has committed more than $1 billion of investment to co-fund the research, development, and testing of a coronavirus vaccine. As part of this commitment, Johnson & Johnson will scale up its manufacturing capacity in the US and other countries in order to enable the supply of more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine when it is ready.

According to a press release, Johnson & Johnson began researching vaccine candidates in January, as soon as the COVID-19 sequence became available. Multiple constructs were tested, but a lead candidate was eventually chosen, along with two back-ups. A Phase 1 clinical study of the novel coronavirus vaccine should begin by September 2020, with data regarding safety and efficacy available by the end of the year.

Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky  “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”, CEO Alex Gorsky