Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ MedTech unit has temporarily paused sales of Varipulse, its pulsed field ablation (PFA) therapy to treat atrial fibrillation (AFib) in the United States, as it investigates four reported cases of neurovascular events. The pause on Varipulse procedures began on Jan. 5. The FDA had approved the Varipulse platform in November last year.
The cases were related to an external rollout plan conducted by J&J. Since the beginning of the external rollout till Jan. 3, J&J completed more than 130 cases across 14 sites. The pause does not impact the rollout in outside U.S. markets. Globally, J&J has completed over 3,000 commercial cases of the Varipulse PFA system.
In response to the pause, J&J’s shares slipped around 2.8% on Wednesday.
In the past year, J&J’s shares have declined 12.1% compared with the industry’s 2.9% decrease.
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Shares of BSX and MDT Rise
Shares of rivals Boston Scientific BSX and Medtronic MDT rose 4.3% and 3.5%, respectively, as these two companies also offer PFA systems in the United States to treat AFib, an abnormal heart rhythm. Medtronic’s PulseSelect PFA device was approved in the United States in December 2023 while Boston Scientific’s Farapulse device was approved in January 2024.
FDA's Fast Track Tag to J&J's Alzheimer's Candidate
In a separate press release, J&J announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation to posdinemab, a phosphorylated tau-directed monoclonal antibody (mAb), for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease. The FDA had earlier granted Fast Track status to J&J’s another candidate, JNJ-2056, an anti-tau active immunotherapy for treating preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in July 2024. Both posdinemab and JNJ-2056 are being developed in phase IIb studies.
J&J’s Zacks Rank & Another Stock to Consider
J&J currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Johnson & Johnson Price and Consensus
Johnson & Johnson price-consensus-chart | Johnson & Johnson Quote
Another large drugmaker worth considering is Bristol-Myers BMY, which has the same Zacks Rank as J&J.
In the past 60 days, estimates for Bristol-Myers’ 2025 earnings have risen from $7.11 per share to $7.19 per share. In the past year, shares of BMY have risen 12.2%.
Bristol-Myers’ earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 15.54%.
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