Biotech Values

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JNJ: another Ebola vaccine in works

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announces that it will fast track the development of its new combination vaccine regimen against Ebola and collaborate with its partners in global health to deliver relief aid to help combat the current outbreak.
Its vaccine candidate is a prime-boost regimen where one vector primes the immune system and the other boosts it. The product features two components based on the AdVac technology from Crucell N.V. (part of Janssen) and the MVA-BN technology from the Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is providing direct funding and preclinical services to bring the program forward. Human clinical trials may start as soon as early 2015.
Crucell and Bavarian Nordic are both developing preventative vaccines against filoviruses, including Ebola, with the aforementioned support from NIAID. More than 1,000 humans have received Crucell's adeno-platform-based vaccine in clinical trials. Bavarian Nordic's MVA-BN platform is the basis for the smallpox vaccine registered in Canada and Europe with a safety record of use in more than 7,300 people.