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Vaccines prove less effective against a new strain of Covid-19 first detected in South Africa. Above, health workers in Soweto.
Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images
Investors project new winners in the Covid-19 vaccine race immediately after the latest disclosures of test results.
Widely awaited data on Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine candidate fell short of expectations on Friday morning, as a biotech upstart appeared to outperform the big pharmaceutical company.
Johnson & Johnson’s stock slipped, while shares of other companies producing or developing vaccines rose. The biggest winner was biotechnology Novavax, which released data on its own Covid-19 vaccine trial Thursday evening that was stronger than data from Johnson & Johnson on Friday morning.
Shares of Novavax rose 72.5% on Friday to $ 231.35. A year ago, on January 29, 2020, the stock closed at $ 6.84.
The escalation was also part of
Modern
(MRNA), up 7.2%;
Pfizer
(PFE), up 1.3%; and
BioNTech
(BNTX), up 4.7%. All three sell currently licensed Covid-19 vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson shares, meanwhile, fell 3.3%. The
S&P 500
was also down, down 0.9%.
Johnson & Johnson reported early Friday that its Covid-19 vaccine was 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe Covid-19, below widely cited expectations that the vaccine would be at least 80% effective.
Yet the company also said the vaccine was 85% effective in preventing serious illness and fully effective in preventing hospitalization and death from Covid-19.
Importantly, while protection against moderate to severe disease was significantly lower in South Africa, where virtually all cases were caused by a disturbing new strain of the virus, protection against severe disease was just as strong there as elsewhere. . That’s a positive sign, given new reports that the South African strain is now spreading around the world.
In a call with investors on Friday, a Johnson & Johnson executive argued that the spread of variants of the Covid-19 virus meant it was impossible to compare the results of the Johnson & Johnson study with large studies conducted earlier in the year, before these mutations were widespread.
“Our data is not comparable, from apples to apples, compared to data generated earlier,” said Dr Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Novavax is leading an additional Phase 3 trial of its vaccine in the U.S. Company CEO Stan Erck told Bloomberg they are in dialogue with the FDA on whether they can submit the drug for authorization emergency use now, or if they need it. wait until the end of the American trial. Johnson & Johnson said they plan to file an emergency clearance application in early February.
The ability of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to prevent serious illness suggests that it will likely play an important role in controlling the pandemic. A key element will be the price. Johnson & Johnson intends to distribute its vaccine on a not-for-profit basis during the pandemic. Novavax has not made any such commitment, nor Moderna or Pfizer.
The vaccine has also been tested in a single dose, a significant advantage over the Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax offerings, which require two doses.
Yet figures presented by Johnson & Johnson on Friday suggest their vaccine does not offer as much protection against Covid-19 as the vaccine against Novavax, which on Thursday said its vaccine was 89.3% effective in a phase study. 3 in the UK and 95.6% effective against the original Covid-19 strain.
These results appear to place Novavax in the same league as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in terms of efficacy. In trials conducted earlier in the year, these vaccines demonstrated 95% protection against symptomatic illnesses.
“We believe that these results clearly demonstrate a differentiating and more than viable efficacy and safety profile (in addition to improved distribution logistics) compared to current vaccines with EUA,” Cantor analyst wrote. Fitzgerald Charles Duncan in a note posted Friday on Novavax.
Novavax is already developing a vaccine or a booster to target the South African variant of the Covid-19 virus. The company said its vaccine was only shown to be 60% effective in a Phase 2b study in South Africa, where almost all infections appear to be from the South African strain.
Novavax has no product on the market. He is also developing vaccines to prevent seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and other diseases.
Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
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