You will have no difficulty identifying ways in which Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) He’s a leader. It is the world’s largest healthcare company with a market capitalization of close to $ 400 billion. J&J is near the top of three different healthcare segments: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer health.
Johnson & Johnson announced in March that it would invest more than $ 1 billion to develop a candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine. That number is higher than the market limits earlier this year by some drug makers who set out to develop new coronavirus vaccines. But could giant Johnson & Johnson really be a loser in the COVID-19 vaccine race?
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Back in the package
Johnson & Johnson originally planned to begin phase 1 / 2a clinical trials for their COVID-19 Ad26.COV2-S vaccine candidate in September. However, the company announced in June that it could speed up the schedule and instead start the initial stage study in late July.
This was great news. And it resulted from solid preclinical data, as well as many discussions with regulatory agencies. So where did you put J&J in the race to start clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine candidate? Certainly not first, but maybe second or third? Fourth, maybe? Not
Assuming no other drug maker begins its clinical trials before J&J, the big healthcare company will be the 25th drug maker to start human clinical trials of a candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine. That’s right, 24 other candidate vaccines are ahead of J&J’s Ad26.COV2-S.
Some of the leaders in front of J&J are large pharmaceutical companies that quickly established partnerships to develop COVID-19 vaccines, including AstraZeneca and Pfizer. Others are smaller biotech like Modern and Novavax. They all outperformed the world’s largest healthcare company to advance clinical trials earlier.
Advantages of being big and famous
However, this relatively slow start did not prevent Johnson & Johnson from remaining in the spotlight. When President Trump invited seven drug makers to the White House to discuss the threat presented by COVID-19 in March, J&J was at the table.
In June, reports emerged that Operation Warp Speed, the federal initiative established to accelerate development of the COVID-19 vaccine, had selected five experimental coronavirus vaccines to support. Again, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate made the cut. J&J was chosen by Operation Warp Speed, while some smaller companies that already had candidates in clinical trials were excluded.
It is not too surprising that J&J has been favored by the White House. As already mentioned, the company is the largest in the business. The Johnson & Johnson brand and products are household names. There are advantages to being big and famous.
Underdog?
Johnson & Johnson could regain lost ground fairly quickly. Chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels said in the company’s Q2 conference call earlier this month that talks are already underway with the National Institute of Health to begin a phase 3 study ahead of the original schedule. He added that this late-stage study could start in late September. That would put J&J only two months behind Moderna.
The company definitely also has ample resources to scale quickly. J&J is aggressively expanding its manufacturing capacity with the goal of delivering more than a billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of next year.
That might not be as lucrative as it sounds. J&J has promised to sell its COVID-19 vaccine at cost during the global pandemic if it gets approval. The large health care stock probably would not experience as big a jump as others if they got approval for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Also, many people probably don’t realize how much a relative Johnson & Johnson newbie is in the world of vaccine development. While the company has researched vaccines for years, it got its first major regulatory approval for a vaccine just a few weeks ago with the European Commission’s approval for its Ebola vaccine.
It might be a bit of a stretch to see Johnson & Johnson as a true underdog in the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines. However, it is also difficult to see the company as a leader in the race.
