Health News of Thursday, 2 April 2020Source: GNAPharmaceutical companies offer hope for speedy coronavirus vaccineFile photoTwo global pharmaceutical companies are working on a COVID-19 vaccine that they expect to be tried on humans in September, with the first batch of vaccines available for emergency authorisation in early 2021. This is a substantially accelerated timeframe in comparison to the typical vaccine development process, health experts say. On Monday, Johnson & Johnson announced that it was working with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) whereby they had committed more than US$1 billion of investment to vaccine research, development, and clinical testing. Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson, said: “We greatly value the US government’s confidence and support for our R&D [research and development] efforts. The company said that for more than 20 years it had invested billions of dollars in antivirals and vaccine capabilities.

Source: GhanaWeb April 02, 2020 04:18 UTC