Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID Vaccine May Hit Market

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by Kofi Ansah · 3 min read
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID Vaccine May Hit Market
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The latest development from Johnson and Johnson has been met with a wide array of views and opinions from Wall Street analysts of which most are cautiously positive.

Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is on course to provide a COVID-19 vaccine to the world after reports suggest that the company is expected to deliver preliminary phase 3 trial results for its one-dose J&J COVID vaccine candidate by the end of this month.

The anticipated interim data will provide the needed insight into the efficacy and safety of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. J&J didn’t meet its initial target of 60,000 people for its trial but announced that they had completed the enrollment on the trial with almost 45,000 people.

J&J’s COVID vaccine was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a subunit of the company based in Belgium. The company’s COVID vaccine could jump ahead of its rivals if its jab proves to be effective and safe as it only requires only one dose, and follows suit on viral adenovirus vector technology, the same approach used by the University of Oxford to create the AstraZeneca vaccine.

J&J’s technology according to reports will be able to keep the vaccine stable for an estimated 80-90 days at normal refrigerated temperatures, eliminating the need for another infrastructure to transport. Its rivals, Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) are two months ahead of J&J and have its vaccine based on messenger RNA technology, which requires its shot to be delivered twice, given in a few weeks apart.

J&J aims to provide at least a billion doses by the end of the year if its interim data passes all the necessary checks. The company reportedly could also apply for emergency use approval from the United States Food and Drugs Authority as early as February should everything go to plan.

Reaction from Wall Street to the News on J&J COVID Vaccine

The latest development from the camp of Johnson and Johnson has been met with a wide array of views and opinions from Wall Street analysts of which most are cautiously positive.

Adam Barker, a healthcare analyst from Shore Capital, told reporters that Johnson and Johnson’s impending vaccine is almost like that of the AstraZeneca vaccine but only requires a single dose. He added that J&J’s approach, the vital-vector has proven to be effective as it targets the spike protein. “We know that target works too, but we’ll have to see what one dose does”, he stated.

A healthcare team from Morgan Stanley in a research report published last week stated that J&J vaccine is equipped with unique elements and efficacy that could be a surprise to the “upside relative to AstraZeneca driving confidence in pandemic response and market recovery.”

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, founded by the former Prime Minister of Britain also said in a report that Johnson and Johnson’s jab as well as AstraZeneca are easier to administer than the mRNA shots and called them “the two workhorse vaccines.”

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