Johnson & Johnson's CEO says crucial coronavirus vaccine data will come by early next week

• We'll know if a single-dose coronavirus vaccine works by early next week, Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said Tuesday.
• The healthcare giant is wrapping up a massive study testing its shot against a placebo.
• If successful, J&J plans to deliver 100 million doses to the US by the end of June.

The world is days away from getting crucial results on one of the most important coronavirus vaccines in development.

Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said Tuesday the healthcare giant will have results from a 45,000-person study testing its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine by early next week.

"We look forward to sharing further details of our Phase 3 study by early next week," Gorsky said on a Tuesday morning earnings call.

Read more: What's coming next for COVID-19 vaccines? Here's the latest on 11 leading programs.

The company had previously stated it expected a readout by the end of January. The new timeline allows for a modest delay, with the possibility that results won't come until the first days of February.

If successful, J&J will still need to apply for and receive emergency authorization from US regulators. That process took just under three weeks for the two previously authorized vaccines, meaning J&J's vaccine could be OK'd in late-February and start to be rolled out in March.

The potential for a one-dose vaccine

Out of all the frontrunners, J&J's shot touts the simplest logistics. It's a one-dose vaccine that can be kept stable at typical refrigerator temperatures for several months.

So far, the US has authorized two coronavirus vaccines respectively developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. Both vaccines are two-dose regimens. Nearly 20 million Americans have now gotten at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with federal officials having sent about 41 million doses to states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more: More than 200 coronavirus vaccines are still in development as the initial vaccine rollout ramps up. Here's how experts anticipate 2021 playing out.

J&J's been hit with manufacturing issues

On the production front, Joseph Wolk, J&J's chief financial officer, said Tuesday he is "very confident" that J&J will meet all its finalized purchase orders.

That includes delivering 100 million doses to the US by the end of June, 200 million doses to the European Union by the end of the year, and 200 million more doses to developing countries in the second half of 2021, CNBC's Meg Tirrell reported.

While J&J has previously said it plans to produce 1 billion doses in 2021, the company has also faced some production challenges and delays of up two months, The New York Times reported.

Wolk seemed to downplay those reports, although he did not directly answer if J&J still expects to produce 1 billion doses in total in 2021 when asked by a Wall Street analyst.

"I think what we're seeing happening with a little bit of confusion is people are trying to parse this down into weeks," Wolk said. "I think the definitive statement here is that we are very comfortable in meeting our commitments to those respective countries or organizations that I just outlined," referring to the US, EU and developing nations.

J&J is also testing its vaccine as a two-dose regimen, with the second dose given two months later. Results from that ongoing trial likely won't be available until the "back-end of this year," Gorsky said.