Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said today that it will begin human testing of its experimental vaccine for the coronavirus by September and that clinical data on its effects is expected before the end of the year. If the vaccine works well, the company said it could be available for emergency use in early 2021.
I’d stress the “could” but this is still great news.
“We have very good early indicators that not only can we depend on this to be a safe vaccine base but also one that will ultimately be effective based on all the early testing and modelling we’ve been doing,” J&J Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky said Monday on CNBC. “This is a bit of a moonshot for J&J going forward, but it’s one we feel is very, very important for use to be doing at this period in time.”
The company also said it has committed more than $1 billion in partnership with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to fund vaccine research.
Meanwhile, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) said it had produced a coronavirus test that can tell if someone is infected in as little as five minutes. A nationwide program of mass testing is needed, many public health experts say, before states and cities can begin rolling back their stay in place social distancing measures.
