Johnson & Johnson’s stock jumped 8 percent Monday when news broke that the company will begin human clinical testing for a COVID-19 vaccine by September and that it has secured a $1 billion deal with the U.S. government as it races to produce more than a billion doses by the end of next year.
Dr. Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson, told Cheddar on Tuesday that he’s confident the company will have a vaccine ready for testing within the next few months.
“We are pretty sure we will get to a vaccine. Whether we can call it the lead vaccine, we’ll see,” Stoffels said. “We tested more than 10 vaccines constructs, as we call them.”
Vaccines typically take a number of years to develop, but Johnson & Johnson says the company has been able to reduce the time needed for this vaccine’s research to 5-7 months because of the related progress the company has made over the past two decades. For example, it has been able to lean on its experience developing an Ebola vaccine.
“We have done it several times, so we know the timelines,” Stoffels said.
The U.S. government will focus its support on the research and development process, while Johnson & Johnson plans to invest in building more plants and upscaling.
The company currently has a plant in the Netherlands and is also reportedly looking for other sites elsewhere in Europe and Asia.
But Johnson & Johnson is not alone in its search for a vaccine. Dozens of public labs and pharmaceutical companies are working on potential inoculations for the novel coronavirus.
Moderna Therapeutics said it began early tests of its potential vaccine earlier this month, with the objective of providing access to a limited group of mostly healthcare workers as early as this fall.
As to whether the companies would work together, Stoffels said Johnson & Johnson is using a separate development method than Moderna, but that he hopes both reach the finish line.
“It would be very good if several vaccines are put on the rails in order to test out and get to a result, because the world will need it,” he said.
Both Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are working with the government to produce mass quantities of vaccines even before exact safety and efficacy standards are determined.
Ultimately Johnson & Johnson will make the vaccine not for profit, but the cost to the public is still unknown.
“The cost to the public needs to be determined. These vaccines can be produced quite efficiently, so you should not expect a very high cost,” Stoffels said. “It will be affordable and accessible. It’s now a matter of bringing very large quantities.”
Perhaps most importantly, Stoffels noted that the coronavirus-related shutdowns have not impacted the company’s development.
“This gets priority in all governments, in all regions,” he said. “What we need to get the upscaling done, the manufacturing tools that we need, as well as vials, as well as filling, everything is prioritized against the virus.”
The coronavirus has killed more than 41,000 around the world and infected more than 830,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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