Johnson & Johnson gears up for 60000-person COVID-19 vaccine trial, the industry’s biggest yet – FiercePharma

With several COVID-19 vaccines already in phase 3 trials and investigators aiming to enroll tens of thousands of participants, Johnson & Johnson is prepping the largest study yet.

Thedrugmakeris planning to enroll a whopping 60,000 participants in a phase 3 trial set to begin next month, according to the governments clinical trialdatabase.

Thats twice theenrollment rival vaccine makersModernaand Pfizer are planning for their own phase 3 tests. Pfizer has already enrolledmore than11,000 people, according to aThursdayupdate. And Moderna signed up 8,374 participantsin the first three weeksof its own trial, CNNreportedearlier this week. But officials wereconcerned about a dearth of minorities enrolled in the Moderna trial, CNN reports.

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RELATED:Johnson & Johnson to start human testing of COVID-19 vaccine next week

Aside from those companies, AstraZeneca's vaccine is also in phase 3 testing in the U.K., Brazil and South Africa. The company has enrolled about 8,000 participants in the U.K.out of an expected 10,000,a spokesman told Politico on August 13. Investigatorshavevaccinated about 3,000 people in Brazil and 900 people in South Africa.

As for J&J, investigators plan totest the companys vaccine,Ad26.COV2.S, against placebo to see whetherthe candidate can reduce moderate to severe COVID-19. J&J expects the study to start around September 5.

These companies represent theCOVID-19 frontrunners, but many other players are involved in the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, including Novavax and a partnership between Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline. Novavax isprepping a 30,000-person phase 3 trial for this fall.

RELATED:Busy AstraZeneca inks yet another big COVID-19 vaccine deal, this time with EU

As the vaccines move forward,governments around the world have been negotiating supply deals to be ready if the candidates succeed. The U.S. has inked agreements for 800 million doses, and Europe is in advanced discussions with several companiesafter signing a pact for 400 million doses with AstraZeneca.

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Johnson & Johnson gears up for 60000-person COVID-19 vaccine trial, the industry's biggest yet - FiercePharma