Johnson & Johnson on Friday said it plans to restart its late-stage vaccine trial. Plus, an executive said its shot could be available as early as January.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine triggered an immune response in older patients as well as young, the drugmaker said. Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency could accept a vaccine that’s less than 50% effective, if the benefits outweigh the risk.
And Vice President Mike Pence plans to continue campaigning this week after members of his staff tested positive for the virus over the weekend.
The worldwide case count passed 43.1 million Monday morning, with more than 1.15 million reported deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine could become available for emergency use by January, said Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, head of public health research and development at the company. J&J on Friday announced plans to restart its late-stage vaccine trial, recently paused over safety concerns. Results from that study are expected by year-end.
AstraZeneca’s pandemic vaccine appears to trigger an immune response in both younger and older patients and triggered milder side effects in the elderly, the drugmaker said. “It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults,” a spokesperson said via email. In July, the drugmaker unveiled blood test data that showed its vaccine produced a “robust” immune response in a group of healthy adults ages 18 to 55.
And under its vaccine pact with the University of Oxford, in accounting for its cost of production, AstraZeneca can add up to 20% to its manufacturing costs to represent the other expenses it’s incurred. The company has repeatedly said it would offer its vaccine “at no profit,” so calculating its costs is key to determining the price. The company is shouldering costs “in excess of $1 billion globally” on top of manufacturing itself, a company spokesperson said.
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