- By Alberto Abaterusso

Janssen Research & Development LLC, part of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Pharmaceutical Research and Development, reported last March 3 through the PRNewswire the results from two Phase 3 clinical trials, VOYAGE 2 and NAVIGATE.

During the studies the pharmaceutical company assessed its guselkumab for the treatment of adult patients affected by severe plaque psoriasis.

The patients treated with Janssen Research & Development's guselkumab achieved meaningful improvement in terms of skin clearance and other disease activity's measures versus the placebo and AbbVie's (ABBV) Humira (adalimumab).

At the end of the VOYAGE 2 clinical trial, in 84.1% of patients affected with severe plaque psoriasis and treated with Janssen Research & Development's guselkumab, a clear or minimal disease at week 16 was observed versus 8.5% of patients under placebo and versus 67.7% of patients taking Humira.

During the NAVIGATE clinical trial, the patients experienced a significantly greater improvement in skin clearance. These patients failed to respond adequately to an IL-12/23 monoclonal antibody (Stelara) and switched to guselkumab.

Results from VOYAGE 2 and NAVIGATE trials were presented at the 2017 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, from March 3 to March 7.

The company says that "guselkumab is a human monoclonal antibody with a novel mechanism of action that specifically targets the protein interleukin (IL)-23 and is currently under review by health authorities in the U.S. and in Europe as a subcutaneously administered therapy for the treatment of adults living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis."

Johnson & Johnson was trading at $123.61 per share Wednesday, down 22 cents or 0.19% from the previous trading day.

The 52-week range is between $106.07 and $126.07. The forward price-earnings (P/E) ratio is 16.79, and the stock is trading at 4.69 times its sales computed over the 12 trailing months period, at 4.64 times the book value and 13.01 times the EBITDA.

The stock is less volatile than the stock market with a beta of 0.68. It is uptrending and gained 7.48%.

As of Dec. 31, 2016, the company has $41.91 billion in cash on hand and securities and the total debt amounts to $27.13 billion, of which 82.6% is the portion of long-term debt.

The total debt to equity ratio is 38.52 versus an industry average of 11.52. The company is more indebted than its peers, but the interest coverage ratio is 50.53. This means that the company can easily pay interest expenses on the outstanding debt.

Over the 12 trailing months time frame the company generated cash flow of $18.77 billion from its operations.

The free cash flow was $15.54 billion and part of this has been used to distribute dividends to the shareholders. Johnson & Johnson pays a quarterly dividend of 80 cents per share that leads to an annual dividend of $3.20 for a dividend yield of 2.59%.

The company has approximately 2.71 billion shares outstanding of which 0.02% is held by insiders and 67.30% by institutions.

Among the top institutional holders, the Vanguard Group Inc. stands out with 191,188,744 shares of Johnson & Johnson, or 7.03% of the company's total shares outstanding, valued $22.03 billion at Dec. 31, 2016.

AbbVie is trading at $64.12 per share, up 43 cents or plus 0.68% from the previous trading day.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stock mentioned in this article.

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Results of Johnson & Johnson's Psoriasis Clinical Trials Impressive - Yahoo Finance