As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the U.S., Johnson & Johnson's chief scientific officer Dr. Paul Stoffels told Cheddar the company has an accelerated plan to create a vaccine.
"At the moment, we predict that we can get north of one billion vaccine dosages in the course of 2021 and even much more afterward," he said.
The company is currently running clinical trials on animals and expects to move to human testing in late July. Stoffels describes the project as a "massive amount of parallel work" that was jumpstarted by a federal investment of $456 million.
Typically, developing a vaccine calls for one to three years of successful testing, but Johnson & Johnson expects to have an approved vaccine by early 2021. One challenge the company will face is locating a pocket of study subjects — between 30,000 and 100,000 people — that have potentially been exposed. The large study size is key for the pharmaceutical giant to meet its self-imposed timeline.
"The higher the transmission rate, the faster we can see the endpoint and we can prove efficacy," Stoffels told Cheddar.
The pharmaceutical giant's confidence in distributing the vaccine by early next year also lies in cell line technology, which has the capacity to create a massive number of doses.
"In a thousand-liter vessel, we can produce more than 150 million vaccines a year," he said.
Stoffels also keyed in on the need for urgency and additional preventative steps the world should take in light of the disease still sweeping the globe.
"Nobody expected such a pandemic happening," he said. "We have learned that we have to have much more public health measures in the world."
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
Eric Trump joins us to discuss American Bitcoin’s mission, market strategy, and why he believes the U.S. must lead the next era of digital currency innovation.
Unreal Snacks CEO Kevin McCarthy shares how dye-free candy is leading the sweets revolution—just in time for what could be a record-breaking Halloween 2025.
In a daring daylight robbery on Sunday, thieves used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s facade, smash display cases, and steal eight priceless jewels.
The Trump administration has agreed to resume processing student debt cancellations under two key income-driven repayment plans it had previously limited.
