close
close

Mondor Festival

News with a Local Lens

    • RFK Jr. chosen for Trump health care job, pharmaceutical stocks fall
    minsta

    RFK Jr. chosen for Trump health care job, pharmaceutical stocks fall

    Pabio Posted on

    Samuel Indyk and Ludwig Burger
    | Reuters

    play

    Shares of global vaccine and drug makers fell Friday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump chose Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a history of spreading misinformation about vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Human Services (HHS).

    Kennedy has been criticized for making false medical claims, including that vaccines are linked to autism. He also vowed to purge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

    The news hit stocks in the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sector, with the broader SPDR S&P Biotech ETF XBI.P down nearly 3% in early U.S. trading.

    Vaccine makers were hardest hit Friday after declining Thursday following the announcement. Moderna’s MRNA.O shares fell 5% after hitting their lowest level since April 2020 on Thursday. Rival Pfizer PFE.N also lost nearly 5%. Novavax NVAX.O was down 4%.

    At 1:11 p.m. GMT, shares of Britain’s GSK GSK.L were down 3.2 percent, their lowest level in more than a year, while AstraZenecaAZN.L and France’s Sanofi SASY.PA were down respectively. 2.4% and 3%.

    Analysts at brokerage firm Jefferies pointed to an interview with RFK Jr. on NBC in which he said he would not “retire” available vaccines, but added that the overall outlook for biotech development companies was considered as darkened.

    “The issue is about sentiment, position, and perspective – impacting biotech investors’ view of how FDA and other HHS issues will evolve (i.e. without accelerating drugs and pro-biotechnology),” they said in a memo, referring to the US Food and Drug Administration. Drug Administration regulator.

    GSK and Sanofi offer a wide range of vaccines, including against influenza and childhood illnesses. Beyond that, GSK has a dominant position in the shingle and RSV market, along with Sanofi and travel photos. AstraZeneca and Sanofi jointly own Beyfortus, a popular new antibody treatment to prevent common RSV respiratory infections in newborns.

    German-listed shares of BioNtech 22UAy.DE, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine partner, fell more than 10%, expected to be their biggest one-day decline since August. Its U.S.-listed shares fell nearly 5%.

    Sartorius SATG.DE, a major supplier of biotechnology laboratory equipment and substances, fell 3.8 percent. Nordic Bavarian group BAVA.CO, which makes a mpox vaccine, fell 16%, also affected by third-quarter results.

    The CEO of the Danish biotech company expressed concerns that RFK Jr., as he is known, could fuel vaccine skepticism, but also told Reuters that the U.S. response to the pandemic of COVID-19 during Trump’s first term had made him confident about future funding for biodefense by the new US administration.

    More: Trump’s victory could give billionaire Tesla unprecedented power

    Considerable implications

    Europe’s healthcare sector .SXDP was the worst performer in early trading, falling 2.2% to its lowest level since April, compared with a 0.2% decline for the region’s STOXX 600 .STOXX .

    “We are not surprised that the industry has been under pressure over RFK Jr.’s ability to oversee the various HHS agencies (including the FDA, CDC, NIH, and Medicare/Medicaid), given his views previous reports on the industry. ” JP Morgan analysts said in a note, adding that it was too early to assess the exact impact.

    Several medical scientists on Friday expressed concern that vital vaccination efforts could be compromised.

    RFK Jr.’s appointment could have “significant and difficult-to-predict implications for the biotechnology sector, adding a considerable layer of uncertainty and challenging instability,” said Brian Abrahams, an analyst at RBC.

    The decline in stocks isn’t limited to vaccine makers. Shares of obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO fell 4.3 percent, while shares of Roche Holding ROG.S fell more than 1.5 percent. Shares of U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly LLY.N also fell 2%.

    Kennedy criticized Novo Nordisk’s popular drug Ozempic, which is often prescribed for weight loss, saying it focused on symptoms of the obesity crisis rather than fixing the food system.

    Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Additional reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bangalore; Editing by Alun John, Mark Potter, Louise Heavens and Sriraj Kalluvila

    Pabio
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like