US HHS-BARDA announce collaboration with Janssen/J&J on vaccine

On February 11, 2020, the US Health & Human Services (HHS), the parent body of the FDA, announced a collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, part of Johnson & Johnson, to help “develop coronavirus therapeutics, as well to “expedite development of vaccines that protect against the 2019 novel coronavirus”

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), headed by Rick Bright [1, 2, 3], is part of HHS & ASPR, they will collaborate with Janssen to identify compounds that have antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 as an initial step in developing new treatments.

BARDA will share research and development costs and expertise to help accelerate Janssen’s investigational novel coronavirus vaccine into clinical evaluation.