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JNJ > As Johnson & Johnson kick-starts phase 3 COVID-19 test, early data show up its promise

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/as-johnson-johnson-kickstarts-phase-3-covid-test-early-data-shows-up-its-promise

Johnson & Johnson has posted an early peek at its phase 1/2 trial data for its pandemic vaccine hopeful that last week started late-stage tests.

Preprint: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.23.20199604v1.full.pdf

The test was split across several cohorts and focused in on both one and two shots spaced by 56 days in healthy adults and healthy elderly subjects.

In cohorts 1a and 1b, subjects were 18-55 years old and 400-strong, while cohort 3, the healthy elderly (here, 65 years old or older), was 394-strong.

J&J reported that the low dose produced a broadly similar immune response to the high dose. “A single dose of Ad26.COV2.S elicited strong humoral responses in the vast majority of vaccine recipients,” it says in the preprint, which has not been peer reviewed.

The vaccine also had 98% detectable neutralizing antibodies against the wild-type virus after 29 days. But as immune response results were only reported through 15 participants over 65 years old, this restricts how much we can take away from its efficacy.

If the one-dose regimen is successful, J&J could eliminate the logistical complexity and dropouts associated with trying to get people to return for a second shot.

A one-shot regimen would also enable J&J to vaccinate 1 billion people each year. Few manufacturers of two-dose regimens can match that figure, giving J&J an edge despite being several months behind the leading vaccine pack.