Source: Figure 5 from: Mercado, N.B., Zahn, R., Wegmann, F. et al. Single-shot Ad26 vaccine protects against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2607-z
I admit to being an unabashed fan of Johnson and Johnson (J and J). That’s an informed opinion, having worked as a technical consultant to numerous Fortune 500 health care companies. From what I could tell, in my limited perspective as a consultant, they were, with one possible exception, the best and the brightest of US health care manufacturers.
And consummate business people. I’m a fan, as I said.
And so, just to prep you for the conclusion here, if J and J thought that Moderna (the officially anointed US vaccine manufacturer) had some sort of amazingly effective and patented approach to producing vaccines, they’d have bought them already. Or at least bid for them, up to what they believed the value the firm was worth.
To me, in this circumstance, the fact that J and J didn’t try to buy them speaks volumes. It tells me that J and J thought they’d do better, relying only on expertise within the J and J family. Not that this is some point-of-pride thing, but merely adhering to a least-cost make-or-buy decision. Just the way that is taught in business textbooks.
Understanding that I’m an economist, and not an expert on the science, let me try to read the tea leaves, on what’s now being reported on the J and J vaccine. Continue reading Post #824: This is the vaccine I want
