|
 The company, however, is lagging rivals Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc
in the race for a vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that has
infected about 75 million people globally.
J&J's study, named Ensemble, is being conducted by its unit Janssen,
the drugmaker said https://www.jnj.com/our-company/johnson-johnson-announces-its-first-phase-3-covid-19-vaccine-trial-ensemble-is-fully-enrolled
in a statement.
While seven countries have already authorized the emergency use of
Pfizer and German firm BioNTech's candidates, Moderna's rival
vaccine was set for regulatory authorization this week in the United
States.
J&J also said it plans to submit an emergency use authorization
application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in
February if the data from the study is safe and effective.
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The company had earlier this month announced cuts in enrollment for
the vaccine trial from its original plan for 60,000, as higher rates
of COVID-19 infections amid a worsening pandemic should generate the
data it needs with fewer study subjects.
The Ensemble trial was paused for over a week in October after a
patient developed an "unexplained illness" during the study. The
company later said it would resume the trial after an evaluation
found no clear cause for the illness.
A separate late-stage clinical trial of an investigational COVID-19
vaccine candidate by Janssen to explore a two-dose regimen was
ongoing, J&J said.
(Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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