Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the Company) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older.
- The technique adopted to make the Ebola virus vaccine will be used to prepare the corona vaccine
- American company Moderna was the first company in the world to conduct Phase-1 clinical trial of the corona vaccine on March 16.
American pharma company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) may prepare the corona vaccine by next year. In early 2021, it will be ready for emergency use. The company said on Monday that a candidate vaccine virus has been selected for this. In such a situation, preparations have been started for its trial on humans. An investment of 1 billion dollars (about 7.5 thousand crore rupees) will be made for this. J&J has signed an agreement with the US government’s Biomedical Research Development Authority for this.
Candidate vaccine (CV) is a type of influenza virus. It is prepared in the lab. It is tried in several stages. Trial will be taken on humans in September.
The work of vaccine preparation started in January itself
The company’s Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stofels told that work on it had started in January itself. The technique adopted to produce the Ebola virus vaccine will be used to prepare the corona vaccine. Stofels reported that his team created a candidate vaccine by mixing some cold viruses. It is somewhat like coronavirus. It is expected that it will be able to produce resistance to corona in humans. Earlier, many candidate vaccines were prepared. It was trialed on animals for 12 weeks. The most appropriate CV was then chosen.
The vaccine is not ready yet for the coronavirus family
According to Stofels, we assessed which candidate viruses could be upscale. It was ensured that the vaccine should also work and it could be prepared in large numbers. The vaccine has not yet been successfully prepared for any of the coronavirus family viruses. However, we are confident of preparing it, as we are working with a team that designed the vaccine for the SARS virus that killed 800 people between 2002-03.
Moderna Company Completes Phase-1 Clinical Trial of Vaccines
American company Moderna was the first company in the world to undertake the phase-1 clinical trial of the vaccine on 16 March. Scientists are working day and night at the company’s manufacturing plant in Norwood, USA. However, other non-essential staff, including Chairman Stephen Hodge, are working from home. According to Stephen, if the first phase of testing is successful, the company is able to make it on a large scale. The company is studying the vaccine on 45 people. Their immune system responded well.
