Johnson & Johnson - The African Mirror

Jan

2021

S.A set to be 1st African country to produce COVID-19 vaccine

PROMIT MUKHERJEE SOUTH Africa is set to become the first African country to produce COVID-19 vaccine. Aspen Pharmacare has announced that it could start production of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa by late March or early April if all approvals are in place. All the vaccines produced will be exported to J&J and will be a part of its global supply inventory, Stavros Nicolaou, Group Senior Executive, Strategic Trade at Aspen, added. "We are going to receive a tech transfer to contract manufacture for them (J&J)... Aspen has current capacity to manufacture up to 300 million doses…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

J&J starts two-dose trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate

COVID-19

KATE KELLAND JOHNSON & JOHNSON has launched a new large-scale late-stage trial to test a two-dose regimen of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and evaluate potential incremental benefits for the duration of protection with a second dose. The U.S. drugmaker plans to enrol up to 30,000 participants for the study and run it in parallel with a one-dose trial with as many as 60,000 volunteers that began in September. The UK arm of the study is aiming to recruit 6,000 participants and the rest will join from other countries with a high incidence of COVID-19 cases such as the United States,…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s Aspen agrees initial deal to make J&J vaccine candidate

COVID-19

TANISHA HEIBERG SOUTH African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare said on Monday it had reached a preliminary agreement with Johnson & Johnson to commercially manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, sending its shares higher. The country's biggest drugmaker said it had agreed to provide capacity required for the manufacture of J&J's vaccine candidate, which is still in clinical trials, at its Port Elizabeth facility. The agreement with J&J will see Aspen perform formulation, filling and secondary packaging of the vaccine for the U.S. firm, the company said. Aspen's shares rose more than 4% on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on the announcement. The…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

J&J says review of illness that led to coronavirus vaccine trial pause could take days

COVID-19

CARL O’DONNELL and MANAS MISHRA JOHNSON & Johnson has announced that it would take at least a few days for an independent safety panel to evaluate an unexplained illness of a study participant that led to a pause in the company's COVID-19 vaccine trial. J&J shares fell more than 2% following news of the pause and safety review. Rival AstraZeneca Plc's U.S. trial for its coronavirus vaccine candidate - which uses a similar technology - has remained on hold for more than a month after a participant in the company's UK trial fell ill. J&J, whose vaccine effort is among…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

J&J kicks off final study of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine in 60,000 volunteers

COVID-19

JULIE STEENHYSEN JOHNSON & Johnson has kicked off a final 60,000-person trial of a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that potentially would simplify the distribution of millions of doses compared with leading rivals using two doses. The company expects results of the Phase III trial by year end or early next year, Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J's chief scientific officer, said in a joint press conference with officials from the National Institutes of Health and the Trump administration. Rival vaccines from Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca all require two shots separated by several weeks, which make them much more difficult to administer.…