J&J launches ‘multi-pronged’ coronavirus response

The company has initiated efforts to broadly collaborate with others in order to screen a library of antiviral therapies, hoping to identify compounds with antiviral activity against the virus – which is also known as 2019-nCoV or Wuhan coronavirus. Using its AdVac and PER.C6 technologies - the same technologies that were used in the development and manufacturing of Janssen's investigational Ebola vaccine - J&J has revealed plans to try and rapidly upscale production of the optimal vaccine candidate. The BBC has reported that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has now risen to 170, and a confirmed case in Tibet means it has reached every region in mainland China.