New York, Jan 7, 2026, 14:25 EST — Regular session
- Johnson & Johnson shares rose about 0.9% in afternoon trade after it filed its Ottava surgical robot for FDA review
- J&J also posted lupus drug data and moved a myeloma combo toward wider use in Europe in the past day
- Traders are looking ahead to the company’s Jan. 21 quarterly results and outlook
Johnson & Johnson shares rose 0.9% to $206.62 on Wednesday, after the healthcare company said it filed its OTTAVA robotic surgical system with U.S. regulators. The stock traded between $204.62 and $208.25.
The filing puts fresh attention on J&J’s MedTech push, a part of the business investors want to see grow as hospitals spend on new tools and procedures. A credible path to market for a surgical robot would also set up a direct fight in a field dominated by Intuitive Surgical.
It lands at a busy moment for the company’s pipeline. In the past day, J&J has flagged new trial results in lupus and pushed a blood-cancer regimen toward broader use in Europe, giving traders more to model than the usual midweek drift.
J&J said it submitted OTTAVA to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under the De Novo process, an FDA route for novel devices that do not fit an existing category. The company said it is seeking marketing authorization for multiple upper-abdominal general surgery procedures, and that early 2025 cases from an FDA-approved study supported the application. “I look forward to reaching the next milestone on our path to commercialization,” Hani Abouhalka, a company group chair in MedTech, said in a statement. 1
On the drug side, the company said its investigational lupus therapy nipocalimab met the main goal of a mid-stage study, based on a standard composite response measure in lupus trials known as SRI-4. The company said it plans to start a Phase 3 program, and that safety was consistent with earlier studies with no new signals. “SLE is a serious autoantibody-driven disease that can impact multiple organ systems,” Leonard L. Dragone, a Johnson & Johnson disease-area leader, said. 2
J&J also said it submitted a Type II variation to the European Medicines Agency, effectively a request to expand a European label, for TECVAYLI (teclistamab) in combination with DARZALEX subcutaneous (daratumumab) in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after at least one prior therapy. The company said a Phase 3 study showed an 83.4% lower risk of disease progression or death versus standard regimens — reported as a hazard ratio of 0.17, a measure of relative risk over time — but flagged high rates of serious infections in both groups. 3
Still, none of these steps lock in sales. Device reviews can stretch out, late-stage trials can fail, and safety and infection risk can make a strong efficacy signal harder to translate into wider use, especially as rivals push their own next-generation systems and regimens.
Investors will get their next hard read on Jan. 21, when Johnson & Johnson reports fourth-quarter results and hosts its earnings call at 8:30 a.m. ET. Traders will be listening for 2026 guidance and any clearer timeline on Ottava’s regulatory path and the next set of data drops in immunology and oncology. 4
