Pharmaceutical share price plummeted following the nomination by Donald Trump as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), known for his anti-vaccine stances.
After the nomination was confirmed on Friday, the share price of the Old Continent’s laboratories fell sharply from the first moments of trading. The sharpest falls were in vaccine manufacturers. such as Bavarian Nordic (-17.38%); BioNTech (-8.76%); GSK (-5.13%); Sanofi (-3.85%); and AstraZeneca (-3,05%).
Also, other European companies in the pharmaceutical sector were also trading with substantial declines. such as Novo Nordisk, with a drop of more than 3%, while the Swiss companies Roche and Novartis were down 2.37% and 0.63%, respectively, with just over an hour left before the close of trading.
On the other hand, the major U.S. pharmaceutical companies were also trading with sharp declines, with thes largest declines corresponded to the vaccine manufacturers Moderna (-5.15%) and Pfizer (-5,34%). The biopharmaceutical Amgen lost more than 4% and Novavax lost 2.55%, while Eli Lilly dropped 2.28%.
In statements to the Financial TimesHenrik Juuel, CFO of Bavarian Nordic, one of the vaccine manufacturers hardest hit on Friday, attributed the plunge in the company’s shares to an “overreaction.” to Kennedy’s nomination.
Donald Trump, the next tenant of the White Houselamented in announcing the nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. that “for far too long,” he said. Americans have been crushed by the pharmaceutical companies and the food industrial complex,” which he accused of engaging in “deception, misinformation and misinformation” of society.
Thus, Trump has asserted that, with Kennedy Jr. at the helm, HHS will serve to “help ensure that everyone is protected from chemicalharmful chemicals, pollutants, contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis” of United States.
For his part, the future secretary of Health promised to be an “honest public servant” should he be confirmed as head of HHS: “Together we will end corruptionwith the revolving door between industry and government, and we will return our health agencies to their rich tradition of evidence-based science and benchmarking.”
Kennedy has voiced opposition to the U.S. government’s vaccine policy, questioning the number of injections administered in childhood and sowing doubts about the vaccines against Covid-19. Despite these claims, he has not openly called for a ban on any and, he said in an interview last week, has no plans to “eliminate vaccines.”