Health-care companies fell amid mixed earnings.
Shares of Eli Lilly fell slightly after the drug giant said rising demand for its Bamlanivimab, seen as an effective therapy for Covid-19, helped drive sales growth.
Shares of Novavax surged. The drug developer's Covid vaccine recently showed efficacy in a late-stage clinical trial. Johnson & Johnson gave back some of its postearnings gains after the health-care conglomerate said its single-shot vaccine candidate struggled to protect South Africans from Covid, which may reflect the dangers of a mutated strain of the virus in the African nation. Overall, J&J said its vaccine was 66% effective at protecting people from moderate to severe disease.
The European Union's drug regulator recommended use of a Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca but the approval is unlikely to quell growing political furor over its effectiveness, production problems, and availability.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-29-21 1641ET
