J&J stands ready to roll out COVID-19 vaccine in Europe

Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it stands ready to resume rolling out its COVID-19 vaccine in Europe as it awaits word from the region's medicines regulator regarding reports of rare blood clots in women who got the shot.

Use of the company's one-dose vaccine was temporarily halted by US regulators last week after the rare brain blood clots combined with a low blood platelet count were reported in six women, prompting the company to delay its rollout in Europe.

"It's an extremely rare event. We hope by making people aware as well as putting clear diagnostic and therapeutic guidance in place that we can restore the confidence in our vaccine," said J&J's Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to discuss its view on the cases on Tuesday. Nearly 8 million people had received the J&J vaccine in the United States.

J&J, during a call to discuss its first-quarter results, said it would fulfill its commitments to ship 200 million doses in Europe and 100 million in the United States.

The company said it recorded $100 million in COVID-19 vaccine sales. J&J has said the vaccine will be available on a not-for-profit basis until the end of the pandemic.

Stoffels said the company would also work with EU member states to resume trials of the vaccine in Europe.

An advisory committee to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to meet on Friday to address the pause after it delayed making any recommendations in a meeting last week and called for more data.

The United States is also reviewing a handful of potential cases of severe side effects in addition to those that led to the pause.

Johnson & Johnson earlier on Tuesday reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations and raised its dividend payouts to shareholders. Its shares were up 1.2% in early trading.

The company slightly raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast and now sees earnings of $9.42 to $9.57 per share, up from its prior view of $9.40 to $9.60 per share.

Excluding items, the company earned $2.59 per share for the quarter, topping analysts' estimates by 25 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Total sales rose 7.9% to $22.32 billion, beating estimates of $21.98 billion.

The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.06 per share from $1.01 per share.