Johnson & Johnson is fast-forwarding its vaccine development program for COVID-19. 

The healthcare company has selected a lead vaccine candidate and is planning to begin human trials in September, with first batches available under potential emergency use authorization in the first part of 2021.

The COVID-19 vaccine program is using Janssen’s AdVac and PER.C6 technologies. These platforms can rapidly develop new vaccine candidates and accelerate the production of the optimal vaccine candidate. 

The company has used the same platform for the manufacturing of its Ebola vaccine and construct its Zika, RSV, and HIV vaccine candidates who are in Phase II and Phase III.

GigaGen is developing a recombinant polyclonal antibody therapy (rCIG) to treat COVID-19.

The company is working towards filing an IND and is planning to start clinical trials for the treatments for severely ill coronavirus patients and individuals at high risk of contracting the disease, including healthcare professionals.

GigaGen’s rCIG technology has the potential to deliver high concentrations of a comprehensive repertory of antibodies that combat the COVID-19 virus by capturing tens of thousands of antibodies to COVID-19 from the serum of scores of patients who have recovered from this virus. After replicated and developed into a vaccine, the antibodies should be able to coat the virus halting the viral particle replication. 

The company has been developing recombinant immunoglobulin technologies for therapeutics for several years. The technology has been validated in mouse models, with recombinant polyclonal antibodies targeting Zika virus, Haemophilus influenza B, Influenza A, and Hepatitis B.

The US FDA has approved Abbott’s new point-of-care test for the novel coronavirus under EUA.  

Abbott’s new assay can deliver the results – if confirmed positive for the virus in a as little as five minutes and in thirteen minutes if confirmed negative. 

The test uses the company’s ID NOW platform, which is already a widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform in the United States.

The company is joining numerous other pharma and biotech players who have their diagnostic test approved under emergency use for COVID-19 such including PerkinElmer, Roche, LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics, Truvian Sciences and others.

Cobra Biologics secures USD 3.3 Million to develop a DNA vaccine against COVID-19. 

UK-based company and Sweden-based medical university – the Karolinska Institute have secured millions in emergency funding from Horizon 2020 to actively develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 as part of the OPENCORONA consortium. 

The main goal of the companies is to support research and development and lead the development to Phase I clinical trial testing of a DNA vaccine against COVID-19.

OPENCORONA is a collaboration aimed at combating COVID-19, the disease which has managed to infect over 730,000 individuals. Partners in the consortium also include Karolinska University Hospital, Public Health Authority (FoHM), IGEA, Adlego AB and Giessen University.