J&J aims for imminent vaccine production, 1B doses worldwide
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (New Brunswick, NJ) plans to begin imminent production of its trial COVID-19 vaccine on an “at risk” basis. Manufacturing “at risk” allows the world’s third largest pharmaceutical company to produce a product before its ultimate design is finalized and released to the public. It plans to produce the vaccine in the Netherlands, and at a facility it is updated in the U.S. “We’re manufacturing at risk to ensure that should the clinical development and the trials be successful, we are in a position to kind of flip the switch and ready to go, to create great access across the globe,” said Joe Wolk, CFO of J&J, told Yahoo Finance. J&J began developing its vaccine for COVID-19 in early January with its European subsidiary Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V. It is using the same biological platform Janssen uses in developmental vaccines for Ebola, Zika and Influenza. J&J entered into a $1 billion partnership with HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop and manufacture the vaccine. The first human testing is planned in early September and approval aimed for early 2021. Read more.
President Trump halts U.S. funding to WHO
President Donald Trump said his administration will halt U.S. funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). “We have deep concerns about whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” said President Trump in a press conference. “The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion.” President Trump accused the organization of not moving quickly enough on COVID-19 and being too China friendly. The U.S. paid $893 million to the WHO during its two-year budget window. It was established in 1948 as an autonomous organization that works with the United Nations and is considered part of the U.N. system. Read more.
President Trump: States will decide when to reopen
President Donald Trump stated that governors will decide when to reopen their states for business amid the coronavirus crisis. Governors want to understand how many people in their state have and how many have had coronavirus, which requires data from widespread testing. The capacity to deliver such data is not there yet in the U.S., according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top epidemiologist. Read more.
New Jersey governor says return to normalcy could be June or July
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the state will likely be under strict social distancing orders to fight the spread of the coronavirus for the next six weeks. “I personally think in the warmer weather, we could begin to find our footing, assuming again that we’ve got the healthcare infrastructure, especially broad-scale testing, that we’re going to give us that confidence,” Gov. Murphy told MSNBC. “I think this is a June or July much better reality if we keep doing our part, especially stay at home right now.” He said the curve of cases in New Jersey is flattening and stressed people need to continue to adhere to rules so progress can continue. New Jersey has at least 68,000-plus cases and 2,800-plus deaths. Read more.
Antibody tests remain work in progress
Members of the National Academy of Sciences’ Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats told members of the White House of Science and Technology Policy that there are issues with the availability and reliability of antibody tests in the U.S. right now. “In three words: Work in progress,” said Dr. David Relman, a member of the National Academy of Sciences committee who was on a call with the White House about the antibody tests. The FDA relaxed its rules on antibody tests and now companies can sell antibody tests without submitting validation data that shows they actually work. “It’s like the wild, wild West out there – or wild East,” cott Becker, CEO of the American Public Health Lab Association, told CNN in reference to that at least half of the companies making these tests are in China. There are concerns that some of the tests might confuse the coronavirus causing the current pandemic with one of several coronaviruses that cause the common cold. Read more.
Scientists work hard to understand extent to which antibodies provide COVID-19 protection
Some viruses result in life-long protection, such as those that cause chickenpox and measles, after the patient has had the virus. However, on the other end of the spectrum, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) doesn’t usually provide any protective shield. The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, isn’t known enough to understand the body’s immune response to an infection. Understanding the level of immunity in survivors of COVID-19 will prove key in making decisions about how and when to lift restrictions. “That’s something that’s going to take a while to figure out,” George Rutherford, the head of infectious disease and global epidemiology at the University of California San Francisco, told Bloomberg. Immunity is a particularly complicated question when it comes to coronaviruses as studies of SARS and MERS, which are closely related to SARS-CoV-2, have suggested limits to the body’s immune response. Read more.