Johnson & Johnson said that it has selected a lead coronavirus vaccine candidate from constructs it has been working on since the start of this year, which it aims to bring it to the market in early 2021 through emergency use authorization.

The company, in this connection, said that its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical has significantly expanded its existing partnership with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Johnson & Johnson and BARDA have together committed more than $1 billion of investment to co-fund research, development, and clinical testing of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Johnson & Johnson said that it will leverage its validated vaccine platform and is allocating resources, including its employees and infrastructure across the world, as required, to focus on the efforts. Separately, BARDA and the company have provided further funding that will facilitate the expansion of their ongoing work to identify potential antiviral treatments against the novel coronavirus.

Johnson & Johnson has also announced the rapid scaling of its manufacturing capacity with an aim to provide a global supply of over a billion doses of a vaccine.

The company expects to launch human clinical studies of its lead coronavirus vaccine candidate at the latest by September 2020.

Alex Gorsky – Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, said: “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.”

  Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Johnson & Johnson, Novel Coronavirus, USA