Drugmakers fall as Trump picks vaccine sceptic for US health job

By Samuel Indyk and Ludwig Burger

(Reuters) -Shares in European vaccine makers fell on Friday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has previously spread misinformation on vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Vaccine sceptic Kennedy has been criticised for making false medical claims, including that vaccines are linked to autism.

At 1052 GMT, shares in Britain’s GSK, AstraZeneca and France’s Sanofi were down between 2.4% and 3.2%.

Sartorius, a major supplier of biotech lab gear and substances, fell 3.8%.

Bavarian Nordic, which makes a vaccine for mpox, was down 16%, also hurt by third quarter results,

The Danish biotech firm’s CEO voiced concerns that RFK Jr, as he is known, could fuel vaccine scepticism but also told Reuters that the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic during Trump’s first term made him confident about future bio-defence funding by the incoming U.S. administration.

German-listed shares of BioNtech, Pfizer’s partner on COVID-19 vaccines, were down 9.7%.

Analysts at brokerage Jefferies pointed to an RFK interview on NBC that he wouldn’t “take away” available vaccines, but they added that the overall prospects for biotech development ventures were seen as dimmed.

“The point is around sentiment, stance, and perspective – that impacts biotech investors’ view of how FDA and other HHS issues will evolve (ie not accelerating drugs and pro-biotech),” they said in a note, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulator.

In premarket trading, U.S. vaccine makers fell further after Thursday’s declines, with Moderna down 2.21%, Novavax down 1.94% and Pfizer marginally lower.

“We are not surprised the sector has been under pressure on the potential for RFK Jr. having oversight of the various agencies within HHS (including the FDA, the CDC, NIH, and Medicare/Medicaid) given his previous stated views on the industry,” JP Morgan analysts said in a note, adding it was too early evaluate the exact impact.

Europe’s healthcare sector was the worst performer in early trading, down 2.2% at its lowest since April, compared with a 0.2% drop in the region’s STOXX 600.

Several medical scientists on Friday voiced alarm that vital vaccination efforts could be undermined.

(Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Alun John and Mark Potter)