J&J to begin human trials of its experimental Coronavirus drug by September

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced its deal with the U.S government worth £810 million on Monday. The company said that the funding is directed at enhancing its manufacturing capacity of the new Coronavirus vaccine to over 1 billion doses.

The
Coronavirus has so far infected over 740,000 people worldwide and caused more
than 35,000 deaths. In the U.S, the count of infected is quickly reaching
150,000 while the death toll is recently crossed 2,500.

J&J
Says Drug Will Be Ready For Emergency Use In Early 2021

Johnson
& Johnson also reiterated on Monday that it plans on starting human
testing of its experimental vaccine against the flu-like virus by September
2020. The company wishes the drug to be ready for emergency use in the first
quarter of 2021.

While
it takes an average of 18 months for an experimental vaccine to be thoroughly
tested and approved for manufacturing and distribution, J&J’s drug is
expected to get an emergency use authorization by the FDA (Food and Drug
Administration) at the start of 2021.

J&J
is also contributing heavily to co-fund the research on development of an
effective Coronavirus vaccine. The company in collaboration with the U.S-based
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has made an over £810
million investment on such research.

Abbott Laboratories had also announced last week that its new Coronavirus diagnostic test has received the emergency use authorization from the FDA. Pfizer’s test that detects the flu-like virus within five minutes is expected to be distributed to the healthcare units by the end of the current week.

J&J
To Use The Ebola Vaccine Technologies For Coronavirus Drug

The
Massachusetts-based biotechnology firm, Moderna
Inc.’s drug for Coronavirus was used on a patient earlier in March to
kick-start the early-stage human trials in search of manufacturing a viable
vaccine against the flu-like virus.

J&J
had accentuated in its announcement in January that it is relying on the same
technologies to develop an experimental drug for Coronavirus that it used while
working on its experimental vaccine for Ebola.

Following
the announcement on Monday, J&J opened in the stock market on a positive
note and posted a 1% gain within an hour. The stock has recovered part of its
losses in the past few days. Currently trading at around £105 per share, the company,
however, is still a little over 10% down in 2020 so far. J&J boasts a
market cap £277.76 billion with a price to earnings ratio of 23.18.