Stocks of major drug makers and biotech companies tumbled in the first full day of trading after Donald Trump announced that he wants vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy.
Stocks of major drug makers and biotech companies tumbled in trading late this week after President-elect Donald Trump announced that he wants vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released a statement following Trump’s pick, but didn’t mention Kennedy by name, setting the stage for behind-the-scenes lobbying.
PhRMA represents the biggest drug makers in the world, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly and Company. Some of these companies lost billions of dollars in market capitalization from the time Trump announced Kennedy’s nomination through Friday’s trading.
It may take only three votes to sink Kennedy’s confirmation in the U.S. Senate depending on whether Democrats retain Bob Casey’s seat in Pennsylvania where a Republican is leading and could become the 53rd Republican in the 100-member Senate.
While it’s unlikely Kennedy will win much, if any, support from Democrats in the Senate, there are several Republicans with ties to PhRMA or medical groups who could derail Kennedy, who has long pushed discredited theories about dangers of vaccines and other U.S. approved medicines.
PhRMA is long known to have key ties to influential Republicans in Washington like U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a 91-year-old Iowa Republican who has long held high-ranking roles on influential health committees including a one-time chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee when he was younger.
