Latest Updates about Johnson&Johnson’s Response to COVID-19 by Zeger Vercounteren, Vice President Government Affairs & Policy and Global Supply Chain
Esteemed colleague,
I sincerely hope you and your loved ones are doing well during these difficult times.
As I believe we share a common goal to contribute to a healthy Europe and given your crucial work in advancing the well-being of European citizens, I would like to share information with you regarding Johnson & Johnson’s efforts to collaborate in the fight against COVID-19.
This 30th of March, Johnson & Johnson announced the selection of a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
We are moving swiftly toward human clinical trials of the lead vaccine candidate by September 2020 and we anticipate the first batches of a COVID-19 vaccine could be available for emergency use authorization in early 2021, a substantially accelerated timeframe. For comparison: the typical vaccine development process involves a number of different stages, ranging from 5 to 7 years before a candidate even qualifies for approval.
To upscale this effort, we have expanded our landmark partnership between the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Together, we have committed over $1 billion dollars of investment to co-fund vaccine research, development and clinical testing.
J&J will expand its manufacturing capacity to ensure global supply of more than one billion doses of a safe and effective vaccines worldwide. The Company plans to begin production at risk imminently and is committed to bringing an affordable vaccine to the public on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use. 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.
We will also upscale Janssen’s ongoing efforts to identify new or existing treatments. We are working with global partners to screen a library of existing antiviral molecules, with the aim of identifying compounds with promising antiviral activity against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV) that could contribute to providing immediate relief to the current outbreak. This work is being conducted in partnership with the Rega Institute for Medical Research (KU Leuven/University of Leuven), in Belgium.
This incredibly swift progress would not be possible without intense public-private collaboration. We still have a long way to go, but we are confident that this step marks a major milestone in ending COVID-19 for patients everywhere.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic and with the rapidly evolving strain on health systems, we have mobilized to provide equipment, products, financial donations, and even our own human resources to support organizations and healthcare workers on the front lines. Our commitments include:
– A new global volunteer leave policy for medically trained J&J employees who are either called to serve or who volunteer to provide medical service support for the COVID-19 pandemic.
– Collaboration with the Belgium government to increase the capacity of COVID-19 testing in Belgium by offering testing capacity of our J&J laboratories in Beerse. We are also producing disinfectant hand liquid in our industrial site in Geel to supply hospitals.
– $50M to the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to aid in the immediate COVID-19 response, primarily focused on supporting frontline health workers in the most affected-countries.
– $1M for The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, which will enable individuals, and organizations around the world to directly support the World Health Organization’s work to prevent, detect and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic (WHO).
– $500K financial donation to the Swiss Red Cross.
Our team remains committed to these response efforts and available to answer any questions you may have, as we continue trying to live up to Our Promise to change the trajectory of health for humanity.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us directly.
Sincerely,
Zeger Vercouteren
Vice President Government Affairs & Policy, Europe, Middle East & Africa and
Global Supply Chain, Johnson & Johnson