Johnson & Johnson surges 9% after saying its coronavirus vaccine will begin human testing by September (JNJ)

Shares of the healthcare company surged as much as 9% during regular trading.
J&J will expand manufacturing capacity to produce the vaccine quickly and reach a goal of 1 billion doses the company said in a statement.
The company has also pledged $1 billion in vaccine funding in partnership with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Johnson & Johnson is surging after announcing that it has accelerated the timeline for human testing of an experimental vaccine for COVID-19, and that it could be ready for emergency use in 2021.

Shares of the world's largest healthcare company gained as much as 9% Monday after the company released a statement saying it had identified a lead vaccine candidate for COVID-19 from constructs it's been working on since January.

J&J said it will initiate human clinical studies of its COVID-10 vaccine by September at the latest and anticipates the first batch could be ready for emergency use authorization by 2021. This is a "substantially accelerated timeframe" compared to the typical vaccine development process, according to the company.

"This is a bit of a moonshot for J&J," CEO Alex Gorsky said in a Monday morning interview with CNBC. "But it's one that we feel is very important for us to be doing at this point in time."

Gorsky also told CNBC that the company is pursuing the vaccine on a "not-for-profit-basis," and declined to say how much it may cost consumers.

The company aims to enable a supply of more than one billion doses of the vaccine globally. To achieve this goal, the company is expanding its manufacturing capacity through a new US site and expanding its sites in other countries.

J&J also announced it pledged more than $1 billion to fund vaccine research in a partnership with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite Monday's gain, J&J shares have still declined roughly 10% on a year-to-date basis.

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Johnson & Johnson surges 9% after saying its coronavirus vaccine will begin human testing by September (JNJ)

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