J&J’s weak $hot
Paltry Q3 sales for its COVID-19 vaccine
Johnson & Johnson made just $502 million in global sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in the most recent quarter — falling far short of the quarterly revenue of peers Pfizer and Moderna.
The pharmaceutical giant had sold just $766 million worth of the vaccine in the nine-month period that ended last month, it announced Tuesday along with its third-quarter earnings results.
Still, Johnson & Johnson reiterated its full-year COVID-19 vaccine sales outlook of $2.5 billion, meaning the company will need a blockbuster fourthquarter vaccine sprint to meet its own expectations.
And J&J’s $502 million in sales of its single-shot vaccine was a major jump from its second-quarter vaccine revenue of just $164 million, when the company’s efforts were hampered by questions over the jab’s risks.
In that quarter, use of the vaccine, which was once heralded for its single-shot ease and its ability to inoculate hard-to-reach populations, was paused after it was linked to severe blood clots among younger patients.
Within days, the pause was lifted and the vaccine was back on the shelves with a new warning label after an extensive safety review by the FDA and CDC found the benefits of using the medicine far outweighed the risks.
Production efforts were also hampered that quarter by issues including an April incident that saw the shutdown of a Baltimore manufacturing plant after the vaccine was contaminated with the Astra-Zeneca inoculation, which was being made in the same facility.
While Johnson & Johnson saw a substantial increase in quarter-over-quarter COVID-19 vaccine sales, the company’s rollout is paltry compared with its peers.
The other major COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, Moderna and Pfizer, have yet to report third-quarter earnings, but Moderna in August reported second-quarter sales of $4.2 billion for its COVID-19 vaccine.
In July, Pfizer reported second-quarter COVID-19 vaccine sales of $7.8 billion, and upped its forecast for full-year sales of the twoshot regimen to $33.5 billion.