Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, vaccine, adenovirus, PER.C6, CEPI, BARDA

(October 30, 2018) J&J unveils new vaccines facility in Leiden, Netherlands
Johnson & Johnson has unveiled a new vaccines facility in Leiden, the Netherlands,
to support the development and roll out of new vaccines on a mass scale for public use globally.
Built by Janssen Vaccines & Prevention, the centre contains new technological and manufacturing platforms
to aid large-scale manufacturing of Janssen vaccines for use in late-stage clinical trials.
Janssen is currently developing investigational vaccines for multiple infectious diseases
such as HIV, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, Ebola and Zika.
The vaccines launch facility can also support the company’s efforts for global pandemic preparedness,
including the development of a new Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) vaccine in alliance with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
[link to www.pharmaceutical-technology.com (secure)]

(January 30, 2020) Johnson & Johnson to develop coronavirus vaccine
Johnson & Johnson announced that it has begun development of a vaccine
for the novel Coronavirus outbreak through its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.
“This latest outbreak of a novel pathogen once again reinforces the importance of investing in preparedness, surveillance
and response to ensure the world remains ahead of potential pandemic threats,” said Paul Stoffels,
M.D., Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson.
The vaccine program will leverage Janssen’s AdVac and PER.C6 technologies
that provide the ability to rapidly upscale production of the optimal vaccine candidate.
These are the same technologies that were used in the development and manufacturing of Janssen’s investigational Ebola vaccine,
which is currently deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
They were also used to construct the Company’s Zika, RSV and HIV vaccine candidates.
[link to www.mlo-online.com (secure)]

(February 12, 2020) J&J allies with BARDA to accelerate coronavirus vaccine program
Johnson & Johnson has teamed up with the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. J&J is pooling money and resources
with BARDA in an attempt to accelerate the progress of a vaccine candidate
into phase 1 development.Late last month J&J joined the list of biopharma companies
working to stop the coronavirus now radiating out from Wuhan, China.
Reflecting its broad capabilities, J&J sketched out a multipronged approach
against the virus that positioned it to provide antivirals for use in China
while applying its AdVac and PER.C6 technologies to the development of a vaccine.
[link to www.fiercebiotech.com (secure)]

The PER.C6 cell line is derived from human embryonic retinal cells, originally from the retinal tissue of an 18 week old fetus aborted in 1985
and further developed and prepared as cell line by transfection with defined E1 region of the adenovirus type 5 followed by selection for transfectants with an immortal phenotype.
[link to www.gmp-creativebiolabs.com (secure)]

Human cell Line: PER C6
Developed in 1985, PER C6 is the growth medium
for a wide variety of human disease-causing viruses
that can be processed into inactivated whole virus,
live-attenuated, live-vector, split, subunit and recombinant vaccines.

President Bush’s Cell-Culture Technology
In April 2002, another supplier Sanofi Pasteur was awarded a $97 million
contract from the US Health and Human Services Department (HHS)
to speed the production process for new cell-culture influenza vaccines.
Sanofi Pasteur will be using PER.C6 cell-culture. The PER.C6-based pandemic flu vaccine
will be the first influenza vaccine developed using human cell production technology.
Herein lies the problem. The PER.C6 human cell-culture comes from an aborted fetus.
[link to novaccine.com]

(June 10, 2020) Johnson & Johnson to begin human trials for coronavirus vaccine in late July, earlier than expected
Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday its early-stage human trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine will begin in the second half of July,
earlier than its initial forecast of September. “Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities,
we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development of our investigational SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, recombinant,”
J&J’s Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels said in a press release. The company began developing a Covid-19 vaccine in January.
The company said Wednesday it is committed to the goal of supplying more than 1 billion doses globally through the course of 2021,
provided the vaccine is safe and effective.
[link to www.cnbc.com (secure)]