The $1 billion bet: Pharma giant and U.S. government team up in all-out coronavirus vaccine push

Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientist describes nonprofit partnership to accelerate its candidate

Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

The crowded race to develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus just received a potential billion-dollar boost: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced on 30 March that it and the U.S. government, through an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, would together devote up to that amount to move a candidate product made by its Janssen division across the finish line.

Janssen’s vaccine is built around an engineered version of adenovirus 26 (Ad26), which normally causes common colds but has been disabled so that it cannot replicate...

Johnson & Johnson’s chief scientist describes nonprofit partnership to accelerate its candidate

Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

The crowded race to develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus just received a potential billion-dollar boost: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced on 30 March that it and the U.S. government, through an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, would together devote up to that amount to move a candidate product made by its Janssen division across the finish line.

Janssen’s vaccine is built around an engineered version of adenovirus 26 (Ad26), which normally causes common colds but has been disabled so that it cannot replicate...