Janssen Pharmaceutica, owned by US multinational Johnson & Johnson, has launched one of the world's largest tests of a vaccine against COVID-19 with 60,000 volunteers, a move that immediately became the subject of political debate.
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"Big news," said Trump on Twitter shortly after the report became public.
The president went on to call for the quick approval of the potential remedy by the Food and Drug Administration, an independent government agency that is in charge of approving the use of new medications, vaccines and other products related to public health.
"Numerous great companies are seeing fantastic results. FDA must move quickly!", Trumptweeted.
With the Janssen vaccine, there are already four separate drugs in the US that have entered phase three, the last of three phases during which the developing companies seek to prove their products' efficacy and safety before definitive approval for widespread use.
The other three pharmaceutical firms that have brought their vaccines to phase three so far are Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer, the latter in cooperation with Germany's BioNTech.
Janssen's vaccine has two advantages over its competitors: it is not necessary to store it at below-freezing temperatures, a characteristic that would facilitate its distribution, and immunisation can occur in patients after just one dose, in contrast to two doses for the other drugs currently being tested, according to a statement by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
According to NIAID, the 60,000 volunteers will be recruited at 215 hospitals around the country and in other countries, like Spain, where it has already undergone testing in three hospitals.
The latest clinical trial is part of Operation Warp Speed launched by the US government to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
The urgency of developing a vaccine that Trump has expressed in recent weeks concerns members of the Democratic opposition, who fear that the president may be interfering in the process of reviewing a vaccine to benefit himself politically in the November 3 election.
Australian Associated Press