Roland Zahn, Ph.D., a Janssen scientist and expert in viral vaccines, was at the front lines of research during the Ebola outbreak. Today he and his team are working at record speed to help deliver a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus

 “It’s been a very stressful time,” says Dr. Zahn, who's been working on prospective vaccine candidates for the virus since January. “But it’s stressful in a good way because you know you’re part of working on a potential solution to help stop this global pandemic.”

On March 30, Johnson & Johnson announced it had identified a lead vaccine candidate for COVID-19¹, so we sat down with Dr. Zahn to hear more about his role leading up to this milestone in the vaccine discovery process—and how his past experiences researching viruses like HIV and Ebola have helped pave the way for the potentially lifesaving work he is doing now.

In academia, my work was focused on understanding the interaction of viruses with the immune system—namely, how is that relationship balanced to provide protection from viruses without causing an immune response in the body? How can certain viruses coexist with a person for a prolonged period of time without causing apparent disease? ^2,3,4

My work in academia was important, but I wanted to have a job where I could have a visible impact on people’s lives. While it is possible to do translational research in academia—that is, lab research that can be used to develop new treatments or procedures—you can’t really see your work through to the final stage when it becomes a licensed medical product. And that’s the stage where you’re really helping people.

So after I completed my postdoctoral work, I took a job at a biotech company that was focused on developing vaccines for such viral diseases as HIV, which causes AIDS, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which causes infections in the lungs and respiratory tract.^5,6

What I love about working on vaccines is that they can help improve human health equally for people in developed and developing nations. Human suffering can sometimes seem far away when you’re working in a laboratory where everything feels under control, but working on a vaccine when there is an outbreak going on is very different. People are dying, which does change your perception of why you’re working in the lab—there’s a very clear purpose for why you are there.

I first experienced this with Ebola.

In 2009, I had started work on a filovirus vaccine. Filoviruses, which include Ebola, are a type of virus that can cause haemorrhagic fevers.⁷

Then, in 2014, everything changed: There was an Ebola outbreak in West Africa that was larger than all previous outbreaks combined. More than 28,000 people became sick, more than 11,000 people died—and there was a race to develop a vaccine, like the one I had been working on.⁸

Janssen ultimately deployed its investigational vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries to help with what has become the second largest Ebola outbreak in history.⁹ To date, 50,000 people have been vaccinated with the first dose of our Ebola vaccine.¹⁰

I spent time in Africa prior to this happening, so I felt very attached to the people there and their needs as they faced the possibility of becoming infected with Ebola.

Our team of scientists has learned a great deal from the work we’ve done responding to epidemics in the past. The technology we’re using to develop the COVID-19 vaccine was also used to develop our investigational Ebola vaccine, as well as vaccine candidates for the Zika virus, RSV and HIV ¹¹

When we first learned about the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, our team of scientists quickly began work on developing a vaccine, knowing that coronaviruses have the potential to spread rapidly, as we observed with SARS.^12,13

And the speed of our work on this potential vaccine for COVID-19 really is unprecedented in vaccine development.

The process of designing, testing, selecting and manufacturing a vaccine typically takes several years, but in this case, we are seeking to compress it to eight months. The entire research community came together quickly to share information about COVID-19, which has really helped us accelerate our response.

My team and I are specifically responsible for testing vaccine candidates to elicit protective immunity to the virus, working very closely with Jerome Custer, Senior Scientific Director of Vaccine Research at Janssen, who is designing the vaccine candidates with his team.

Since February, we have been conducting preclinical testing of the potency of more than 10 potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates.¹⁴ On March 30, we announced the selection of our lead candidate, with two backups, and we expect to begin clinical studies of this candidate in September, aiming to have clinical data on its safety early next year.¹

Our team of scientists has learned a great deal from the work we’ve done responding to epidemics in the past. The technology we’re using to develop the COVID-19 vaccine was also used to develop our investigational Ebola vaccine, as well as vaccine candidates for the Zika virus, RSV and HIV.¹¹

Janssen's emphasis on developing global partnerships also plays a crucial role in our rapid response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. We have expanded our partnership with BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.¹ And we’ve been collaborating with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is part of Harvard Medical School, on evaluating and testing prospective COVID-19 vaccines.¹⁵

These partnerships are allowing us to develop a vaccine quickly. By identifying a vaccine, working on manufacturing, and preparing for the first clinical trials at the same time, we’re able to move as quickly as possible to deliver a vaccine at the same level of safety as in our other vaccine programs.¹

Janssen's goal is to manufacture over 1 billion doses of the potential preventive vaccine by the end of 2021.¹

Working in vaccine development means you’re always addressing an unmet medical need. Now we’re in a pandemic for which we weren’t fully prepared, so this work is even more urgently needed and important.

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References

1. Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Announces a Lead Vaccine Candidate for COVID-19; Landmark New Partnership with U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; and Commitment to Supply One Billion Vaccines Worldwide for Emergency Pandemic Use. Available at: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-a-lead-vaccine-candidate-for-COVID-19-landmark-new-partnership-with-u-s-department-of-health-human-services-and-commitment-to-supply-one-billion-vaccines-worldwide-for-emergency-pandemic-use. Last accessed May 2020.

2. F. Brauer, K. Schmidt, R. Zahn, C. Richter, H. Radeke, J. Schmitz et al., A Rationally Engineered Anti-HIV Peptide Fusion Inhibitor with Greatly Reduced Immunogenicity, Antimicrobial Agents And Chemotherapy. 57 (2012) 679-688. doi:10.1128/aac.01152-12.

3. R. Zahn, M. Rett, B. Korioth-Schmitz, Y. Sun, A. Buzby, S. Goldstein et al., Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV)-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Responses in Vervet African Green Monkeys Chronically Infected with SIVagm, Journal Of Virology. 82 (2008) 11577-11588. doi:10.1128/jvi.01779-08.

4. R. Zahn, I. Schelp, O. Utermöhlen, D. von Laer, A-to-G Hypermutation in the Genome of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus, Journal Of Virology. 81 (2006) 457-464. doi:10.1128/jvi.00067-06.

5. Falsey, E. Walsh, Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Adults, Clinical Microbiology Reviews. 13 (2000) 371-384. doi:10.1128/cmr.13.3.371-384.2000.

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7. V. Wahl-Jensen, L. Bollinger, D. Safronetz, F. de Kok-Mercado, D. Scott, H. Ebihara, Use of the Syrian Hamster as a New Model of Ebola Virus Disease and Other Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, Viruses. 4 (2012) 3754-3784. doi:10.3390/v4123754.

8. CDC. 2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html. Last accessed May 2020.

9. Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Announces Donation of up to 500,000 Regimens of Janssen’s Investigational Ebola Vaccine to Support Outbreak Response in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Available at: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-donation-of-up-to-500-000-regimens-of-janssens-investigational-ebola-vaccine-to-support-outbreak-response-in-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-drc. Last accessed May 2020.

10. Johnson & Johnson. Ebola. Available at: https://www.jnj.com/ebola. Last accessed May 2020.

11. Janssen Vaccine Technologies. Available at https://www.janssen.com/infectious-diseases-and-vaccines/vaccine-technol....  Last accessed May 2020.

12. Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Announces Collaboration with U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to Accelerate Development of a Potential Novel Coronavirus Vaccine. Available at: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-announces-collaboration-with-u-s-dep.... Last accessed May 2020.

13. E. Prompetchara, C. Ketloy, T. Palaga, Immune responses in COVID-19 and potential vaccines: Lessons learned from SARS and MERS epidemic, APJAI. 38 (2020) 1-9. doi: 10.12932/AP-200220-0772

14. Johnson & Johnson. “I’m a Scientist Working on a Potential COVID-19 Vaccine”: Meet a Researcher Who's Studying a Promising Candidate. Available at: https://www.jnj.com/innovation/scientist-researching-potential-COVID-19-vaccine. Last accessed May 2020.

15. BIDMC. BIDMC Immunologist at the Forefront of the Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine. Available at: https://www.bidmc.org/about-bidmc/news/2020/04/barouch. Last accessed May 2020.