Coronavirus Vaccine: Johnson & Johnson Pledges 100M Doses to U.S. For $10 Each

With leading COVID-19 vaccines in late-stage testing, companies have been inking supply deals with the U.S. government for a quick rollout if their programs succeed. Now, Johnson & Johnson is getting into the act. The pharma giant struck a deal to supply 100 million doses of its candidate, Ad26.COV2.S, if the shot is cleared for use by the FDA. The U.S. government is committing just over $1 billion under the agreement for a price per dose of about $10.  That compares with a lower price-per-dose of $4 for AstraZeneca and a higher figure of $19.50 for Pfizer and BioNTech under agreements between those drugmakers and the U.S. government. J&J and AZ have pledged to provide their vaccines under a not-for-profit basis during the pandemic. Under the new J&J deal, which stipulates manufacturing in the U.S., the feds could later buy another 200 million doses under a separate agreement. The company previously won $456 million in funding to support its R&D and manufacturing scale-up, according to a government database.