Johnson & Johnson RSV vaccine data raises the bar in industry-wide race

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Johnson & johnson

presented new data on its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine over the weekend that an analyst says sets a new efficacy bar for the many big pharmaceutical companies competing to bring an RSV vaccine to market .

The company said its RSV vaccine was 80% effective in protecting against lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in a phase 2b trial in adults aged 65 and older.

RSV is a respiratory virus that can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, and poses a serious risk to the elderly and very young children. More than a few companies are developing RSV vaccines in addition to

Johnson & johnson

(ticker: JNJ), including

Pfizer

(PFE),

GlaxoSmithKline

(GSK),

Modern

(MRNA), and

Sanofi

(SNY), which also presented data on its vaccine over the weekend.

In a note released on Saturday, SVB Leerink analyst Dr Geoffrey Porges wrote that the 80% efficacy figure achieved by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be a benchmark for the efforts of other drugmakers.

“JNJ’s primary endpoint result of 80% vaccine efficacy in preventing RSV lung infections sets the bar for Phase 3 readings of GSK and PFE in 2022 and increases our expectation of a JNJ vaccine positive phase 3 result, ”Porges wrote.

Johnson & Johnson did not provide data on the impact of its vaccine on hospitalizations or other events. Porges warned that without this information, it is currently “not for granted” that the vaccine will be recommended for universal use.

Porges also noted that the protection offered by the vaccine appeared to wane over time, based on limited data.

Johnson & Johnson shares were down 0.2% in pre-market trading on Monday. The stock is up 2% so far this year and fell 0.6% on Friday amid a general pullback by manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines.

At the same weekend medical conference where Johnson & Johnson presented data on their RSV vaccine,

Sanofi

also presented data on his RSV vaccine. Sanofi said the data, which came from a study of the vaccine in infants, showed a 74.5% reduction in medically assisted lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV, according to a memo released Monday by the JP Morgan Cazenove analyst Richard Vosser.

“We believe that not only are these data strong enough to support a widespread recommendation for use in at least all infants in the developed world, but we also see that they are raising the bar for maternal vaccine success,” Vosser wrote. .

Sanofi’s U.S. certificate of deposit was flat on Monday before release and is down 1.4% year-to-date.

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]