Johnson & Johnson Pauses Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Following “Unexplained Illness”

Johnson & Johnson Pauses Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Following “Unexplained Illness”

Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has paused the advanced clinical trial of its experimental coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

"Following our guidelines, the participant's illness is being reviewed and evaluated by the ENSEMBLE independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) as well as our internal clinical and safety physicians," the company said in a statement.

"Adverse events -- illnesses, accidents, etc. -- even those that are serious, are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies." 

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

The pause was first reported by Stat News.

Latest Vaccine News

The announcement marks the latest in vaccine development news, after in September "AstraZeneca Pauses Coronavirus Vaccine Trial After Volunteer’s “Unexplained Illness.”

As GoLocal reported:

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has halted coronavirus vaccine trials after a “serious suspected adverse reaction in a participant,” according to the company.

The New York Times reports: 

"The pause, which was first reported by STAT, will allow AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish company, to conduct a safety review and investigate whether the vaccine caused the illness. How long the hold will last is unclear.

Drug companies are racing to complete a coronavirus vaccine that could bring an end to a pandemic that has already claimed more than 890,000 lives globally. AstraZeneca is a front-runner, with late-stage clinical trials underway around the world, and has said it hoped to have a vaccine ready before the end of the year. If the cause of the reaction turns out to be related to the vaccine, those efforts could be derailed.