Global Pharma Stocks Fall After Trump Demands Cuts in Drug Prices
Novo Nordisk, the maker of breakout drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, was among the hardest hit. Its shares slid more than 4% in Denmark on Friday.
Shares in AstraZeneca, the maker of heartburn medication Nexium, fell more than 3% in London. Rival GSK fell more than 4%.
Germany's Merck KGaA lost more than 2.5%. Trump wrote to the company's EMD Serono unit.
In Switzerland, Roche and Novartis fell less than 1%. One of the president's letters was sent to Roche's Genentech arm.
The move follows an executive order signed in May. Pharmaceuticals have also become a key focus in Trump's trade negotiations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Switzerland could revise offer on Trump tariffs, business minister says
By John Revill ZURICH (Reuters) -The Swiss government is open to revising its offer to the United States in response to planned heavy tariffs, Business Minister Guy Parmelin said, as experts warned the 39% import duties announced by President Donald Trump could trigger a recession in Switzerland. Switzerland was left stunned on Friday after Trump hit the country with one of the highest tariffs in his global trade reset, with industry associations warning of tens of thousands of jobs being put at risk. The country's cabinet will hold a special meeting on Monday to discuss its next steps, with Parmelin telling broadcaster RTS that the government would move quickly before the U.S. tariffs are imposed on August 7. "We need to fully understand what happened, why the U.S. president made this decision. Once we have that on the table, we can decide how to proceed," Parmelin said. "The timeline is tight, it may be hard to achieve something by the 7th, but we'll do everything we can to show goodwill and revise our offer," he added. Parmelin said Trump was focused on the U.S. trade deficit with Switzerland, which stood at 38.5 billion Swiss francs ($48 billion) last year, with Switzerland buying U.S liquefied natural gas (LNG) among the options under consideration. Another option could be further investments by Swiss companies in the United States, Switzerland's biggest export market for its pharmaceuticals, watches and machinery. "Look at the European Union, they promised to buy LNG. Switzerland imports LNG too — maybe that's one path," Parmelin said. "Maybe more investments. But to be sure it's a strong enough basis for continuing talks, we have to fully understand what the U.S. expects." Both Parmelin and Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter were also ready to travel to Washington to pursue talks if necessary, he added. Swiss officials rejected reports that the higher than expected tariffs were imposed after a bad-tempered telephone call between Keller-Sutter and Trump late on Thursday. "The call was not a success, there was not a good outcome for Switzerland," a government source told Reuters. "But there was not a quarrel. Trump made it clear from the very beginning that he had a completely different point of view, that 10% tariffs were not enough. "We are working hard to find a solution and are in contact with the American side," the source added. "We hope we can find a solution before August 7." Tariffs would have a huge impact on Switzerland's export-orientated economy and raised the risk of a recession, said Hans Gersbach, an economist at ETH, a university in Zurich. Swiss economic output would be reduced by 0.3% to 0.6% if the 39% tariff was imposed, a figure which could rise to above 0.7% if pharmaceuticals - which are currently not covered by the U.S. import duties - were included. Prolonged disruptions could shrink Swiss GDP by more 1%, Gersbach said. "There would be a risk of a recession," Gersbach said. Swiss shares are expected to be hit by the tariffs news when the stock market reopens on Monday after being closed during the Swiss National Day holiday on Friday. The tariffs could also see the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates in September, said Nomura. "We expect one more 25bp policy rate cut from the SNB in September, which would take the rate to -0.25%," the bank said. "A hit to growth from U.S. tariffs on exports would likely weaken economic growth and cause further deflation pressures, adding to the likelihood of easing to a negative policy rate." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Politico
7 minutes ago
- Politico
Former Trump statistics chief slams Friday firing of Erika McEntarfer
Trump fired McEntarfer after BLS' monthly jobs report for July showed that the economy had added just 73,000 jobs, coming in under expectations. He also took issue with the agency's major revisions to job numbers from May and June. Employment only increased by 33,000 jobs in those two months, the government said Friday, down by 258,000 from previous estimates. Revisions to preceding job reports are routinely issued when a new one comes out. The president also suggested McEntarfer had led an effort to inflate job statistics to aid former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. McEntarfer, Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, would 'be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.' But Beach told Hunt on Sunday that the bureau's estimates are far better now than in previous decades. And the president's firing of McEntarfer 'undermines credibility' in the statistical system, he said. 'Suppose that they get a new commissioner and this person, male or female are just the best people possible. And they do a bad number. Well, everybody's going to think, well, it's not as bad as it probably really is because they're going to suspect political influence.' Larry Summers, who led the Treasury Department under former President Bill Clinton, told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that the firing 'is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism.' 'I mean, this is way beyond anything that Richard Nixon ever did, Summers said on 'This Week.' 'I'm surprised that other officials have not responded by resigning themselves as took place when Richard Nixon fired people lawlessly.'
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
White House officials defend firing of labor official as critics warn of trust erosion
By Doina Chiacu and Jasper Ward WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top White House economic advisers on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, pushing back against criticism that Trump's action could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data. U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had "real concerns" about the data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president "is right to call for new leadership." Hassett said on Fox News the main concern was Friday's BLS report of net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported. Trump accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of faking the jobs numbers without providing any evidence of data manipulation. The BLS compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data. The BLS gave no reason for the revised data but noted that "monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors." McEntarfer's firing added to growing concerns about the quality of U.S. economic data published by the federal government and came on the heels of a raft of new U.S. tariffs on dozens of trading partners, sending global stock markets tumbling as Trump presses ahead with plans to reorder the global economy. "I think what we need is a fresh set of eyes at the BLS, somebody who can clean this thing up," Hassett said on "Fox News Sunday." In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," Greer acknowledged there were always revisions of job numbers, "but sometimes you see these revisions go in really extreme ways." 'PREPOSTEROUS CHARGE' Critics, including former leaders of the BLS, slammed Trump's move and called on Congress to investigate McEntarfer's removal, saying it would undermine trust in a respected statistical agency. There was no way a commissioner could rig the jobs numbers, said William Beach, a former BLS commissioner and co-chair of the group Friends of the BLS. "Every year we've revised the numbers. When I was commissioner, we had a 500,000 job revision during President Trump's first term," Beach said on CNN's "State of the Union. "And why do we do that? Because firms are created or firms go out of business, and we don't really know that during the course of our of the year, until we reconcile against a real full count of all the businesses." Democrats and at least two Republican senators also criticized the firing. "This is a preposterous charge. These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals," former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "What does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor on Friday. The firing came amid a flurry of economic upheaval last week. Just hours before the tariff deadline on Friday, Trump signed an executive order imposing duties on U.S. imports from countries including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, in his latest round of levies as countries attempted to seek ways to reach better deals. Greer and Hassett said on Sunday the bulk of those tariffs are likely to stay in place rather than be cut as part of continuing negotiations. India pushed back on Trump's threats of an additional penalty if it kept purchasing oil from Russia, two Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday. Trump imposed a new 25% tariff on Indian goods.
