With the FDA’s granting of emergency use authorization (EUA) to Johnson & Johnson (J&J), there is now a third vaccine – and the first requiring only a single shot – against COVID-19 for adult Americans. Though it packs less of an efficacy punch, the EUA allows J&J’s Ad26.COV2.S to join mRNA vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE as protection against the virus.
As expected, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) looked favorably upon the latest COVID-19 entry: Ad26.COV2.S, a one-shot product that emerged from the same Johnson & Johnson (J&J) platform, AdVac, that let the firm devise an Ebola vaccine cleared in Europe last year.
Briefing documents released by the FDA related to the Vaccines and Related Products Advisory Committee meeting slated for Friday suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will sail smoothly to an emergency use authorization.
With strong results in hand from the phase I stage of its phase I/II study testing a would-be COVID-19 subunit vaccine, Novavax Inc.’s president of R&D, Gregory Glenn, said “it’s possible we could go down in the dose” as work proceeds and get similar efficacy.