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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) CEO Looks to Have 250,000 Doses of Ebola Vaccine Available by May

October 22, 2014 11:04 AM EDT

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE; JNJ) Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky spoke with FOX Business Network's (FBN) Maria Bartiromo about testing an Ebola vaccine in January 2015. Gorsky said, "It is very exciting and we think this is a very important step in the fight against Ebola." Gorsky went on to say, "by January we should start testing this in humans" and by "May we should have results and at that time" we can "determine if in fact we can begin distribution of the vaccine." Gorsky went on to say, "we also hope to have 250,000 doses of that vaccine available by May" and "produce about a million doses through the remainder of 2015." Gorsky said, "we have made an investment of about $200 million" in the Ebola vaccine "and 43 of that was upfront, was an investment in Bavarian Nordic."

Excerpts from the interview are below:

On beginning to test the new Ebola vaccine in January 2015

"It is very exciting and we think this is a very important step in the fight against Ebola. At Johnson & Johnson we've been working on a vaccine for Ebola for some years, but recently, in fact just yesterday we announced an agreement we have with a company called Bavarian Nordic and what we are going to be doing is taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine combining it with the Bavarian Nordic vaccine and really kind of having a one two punch and it's a prime boost approach that in pre-clinical models we've seen have very significant results, so we still have a lot of testing to do, but we're very hopeful and we think this is a very important step."

On how there is no significant vaccine for Ebola right now:

"That's why we are doing everything we can to accelerate the development and the production of this new approach, so we're very hopeful in working closely with the World Health Organization, other HealthCare authorities around the world that by January we should start testing this in humans. And we're hopeful that by about May we should have results and at that time we'll know more about the safety, the immunogenicity and we'll be working with those same authorities to determine if in fact we can begin distribution of the vaccine to perhaps HealthCare's or other patients in the affected areas. And then continue with our other testing. And we also hope to have 250,000 doses of that vaccine available by May of this year and through the remainder of 2015, again assuming that we have good results. We should be able to produce about a million doses through the remainder of 2015."

On whether there will be doses on the market in 2015:

"Yes, that is definitely our goal. Look, also we are working with a number of other pharmaceutical companies, a number of other partners to see what we can do to accelerate that even more. I mean we've got a massive project team working on this right now, doing everything we can to try to make sure we do the appropriate testing and also have the production capacity available to get doses to patients."

On their investment in the Ebola vaccine:

"Absolutely, we have made an investment of about $200 million and 43 of that was upfront, was an investment in Bavarian Nordic to make sure we can achieve the kind of capacity and the scale goals that we put in place. And we're going to continue to invest and frankly much of it at risk before we know whether or not this is going to work exactly the way that we're hoping, to make sure ultimately we've got enough vaccine available to get to as many patients as possible."

On medical device tax:

"We think when it comes to thinking about healthcare reform it is very important that we get more patients access and the fact that eight and half million now have at least additional insurance is a step in the right direction. We eliminated some of the barriers around preexisting conditions, but we now know we still have a lot of work to do and one thing that we absolutely have to make sure of is that we don't remove the incentive for innovation because there is still a lot of work that all companies in this space need to do. You know, we need to cure Alzheimer's, we need to do a better job against type 2 diabetes."



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Maria Bartiromo