A one-off COVID vaccine could give Johnson & Johnson an advantage

It might be a little more when it comes to launching a coronavirus vaccine.

Wall Street analysts told The Post that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine could have an advantage over Pfizer and Moderna shots – although we still have several weeks to go through approval in the US.

This is because single punches are likely to be easier to distribute across the country than competing two-dose regimens moving slowly into the arms of Americans.

“They’re not too late, given the fact that they’re looking for a single dose vaccine, which definitely would be more appropriate,” CFRA research analyst Sell Hardy told The Post. “They have clear advantages in terms of logistics.”

J&J expects to release data from a large-scale vaccine study in late January and is asking Feds to scan the shot for emergency use shortly thereafter. That would put it behind Pfizer and Moderna, which secured emergency approvals around mid-December, by nearly two months.

J&J is also studying a two-dose regimen, but only one dose It generated an immune response In more than 90 percent of participants in an early clinical trial.

This means that every dose produced by the New Jersey-based company could inoculate a single person, which could double its effect compared to Pfizer and Moderna jabs, according to Gilan Mammadova of Third Bridge.

“If I say I have the capacity to produce a billion doses … that’s a billion people who are being vaccinated” with a single vaccine, said Mamadova, the global team of the investment research firm that leads the healthcare team. “If you make the same statement with Moderna and with Pfizer, it’s only half.”

There is another major difference – The J & J injection stimulates an immune response in the body by delivering a gene for the proteins of the Corona virus, “Spike” through the common cold virus, which cannot make the recipient sick. This is a different method from the so-called messenger RNA found in Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

J&J Technology already has a proven track record – it has been used to grow the company Ebola vaccine Approved by European Union regulators last July. This could help reassure people who are skeptical of brand new COVID-19 footage, according to analysts.

“Although they are late, some people might think, ‘Well, they’re using a conventional vaccine platform,’” Hardy said. “There could also be a problem with trust, or a problem with cognition that, I would say, that could benefit them.”

Moreover, the J & J vaccine is expected to contain A. Longer shelf life From Moderna and doesn’t require extremely cold storage like Pfizer, which has to stay at minus -94 degrees Fahrenheit to be effective.

J&J estimates that its vaccine will remain stable for at least three months at standard refrigerator temperatures and for two years in the freezer below 4 degrees Fahrenheit. the talkOn the other hand, it can only last up to 30 days in the refrigerator and up to six months when frozen.

Despite these apparent advantages, analysts do not expect the vaccine to have a significant impact on J & J’s profits. The company said it plans to make the shot available on a “non-profit basis to use the emergency pandemic,” it has begun. $ 454 million In funding research and development from the United States government.

J&J will also eventually have to compete with other single-dose COVID vaccines from companies like Merck, Which Further in development.

“I don’t think financially it makes any difference [J&J] Even if it was an impressive win, Sam Fadel, chief drug analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told The Post. “The question is whether this is something they will be able to generate income after the pandemic.”