AdventHealth Chief Scientific Officer: Clinical trials place Central Florida at the heart of vaccine research

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 12, 2020 – This morning on the AdventHealth Morning Briefing, Dr. Steven R. Smith, AdventHealth’s chief scientific officer, offered insights into the COVID-19 clinical research trials and therapies underway in Central Florida.

“The only way we are going to get out of this pandemic is with a vaccine,” Smith said.

AdventHealth Research Institute is conducting hundreds of clinical trials and is also a testing site for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson’s Phase 3 clinical research study, ENSEMBLE trial, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Janssen’s investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate, JNJ-78436735, also known as Ad26.COV2.S.

“It revs up the immune system, but only for the coronavirus, so the body can attack it and gives us the ability to prevent the virus from planting the seed and growing in the body,” Smith said.

Smith said up to 60,000 people will take part in the ENSEMBLE trial and suggests results may be available during the first quarter of 2021.

“It will take several more months until we get enough preliminary data before we can say ‘does it work, is it safe,’” Smith said. People interested in participating in the ENSEMBLE clinical trial may visit AdventHealthVaccineTrials.com or call Call844-422-2282.

“We need to make sure the vaccines are safe…they are effective, and that they work for everyone,” Smith said.

We encourage you to refer to the video on the Life at AdventHealth Central Florida page to pull direct quotes from Smith. The video may be downloaded by following this link:https://vimeo.com/475922981#t=45s

BONUS: Click to download the Spanish-language version of AdventHealth Morning Briefing known as AdventHealth Informe Matutino with guest Dr. Victor Herrera, chief medical officer and infectious diseases specialist at AdventHealth Orlando: https://vimeo.com/478490972#t=82s