Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Stock Is Always a Buy (If You Hold Long Enough)

Investors should also watch Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s hepatitis C drug Incivo that the health-care giant sells abroad for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX). Even though it has to ship some of the profits to Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), Incivo is a moneymaker because doctors in Europe haven’t started cutting back on prescribing the drug while they wait for next-generation hepatitis C drugs as they have in the U.S., where it’s called Incivek.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has one of those in the works, too. Toward the end of the year, look for a Food and Drug Administration approval of Johnson & Johnson’s hepatitis C drug simeprevir, which will go up against Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)‘ sofosbuvir, which will be approved around the same time. Data from the combinations of simeprevir with its partners’ hepatitis C drugs will help investors gauge how well Johnson & Johnson can compete with the all-oral cocktail that Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is developing.

The article Johnson & Johnson Stock Is Always a Buy (If You Hold Long Enough) originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Brian Orelli.

Fool contributor Brian Orelli has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals and owns shares of Johnson & Johnson.

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