New data on early-stage trials of
Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine are giving experts increased confidence that the vaccine will work as they await results of a large Phase 3 trial expected in the coming weeks.
The trial data, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, offered an expanded and updated account of a paper posted weeks ago on a so-called preprint server. The paper showed that 90% or more of participants developed neutralizing antibodies against the virus that causes Covid-19 within 29 days after injection with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and that the neutralizing antibodies remained 71 days after injection.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson were up 1.8% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Dreamstime
Biotech companies have been riding the wave of Covid-19 vaccine excitement for months now, as the pandemic reignited investors’ confidence in the value of their research, technology, and platforms.
Leaders in coronavirus vaccine development like
Moderna (ticker: MRNA) and
Novavax (NVAX) have seen their stocks surge wildly, but the rally isn’t limited to them. The biggest winners in 2020 also included firms with breakthroughs in other areas, such as
Twist Bioscience (TWST), which developed a DNA synthesis platform that made Covid testing possible, and
Investing in biotech isn’t easy, however. It’s a risky space where companies often have no income-generating products, and the drugs in development have no guarantee of government approval. Investors are often attracted by biotech stocks’ potential for outsize gains, but these companies can also bring sudden, steep declines if their high-stake efforts fail in clinical tr