President Trump’s morning ritual continues to captivate. On Tuesday, at just before 9 a.m ET, Trump tweeted that he was working on a “new system where there will be competition in the Drug Industry.”
“Pricing for the American people will come way down!” he wrote. And accordingly, pharma stocks tumbled, Bloomberg reports.
Allergan’s (AGN) share price dropped 1.5%, as did that of Mylan (MYL), which was publicly castigated for a six-fold price hike on its EpiPen last year. Perrigo stocks slid 2.5% and Standard & Poor’s 500 Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences Index—which counts 25 members—underwent a 1.3% fall. That’s the largest drop since Trump said the pharmaceutical industry was “getting away with murder” on Jan 11.
In a note to clients, Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan reportedly said: “We are intrigued by the timing of President Trump’s tweet this morning as it followed rapidly behind the House health-care reform bill, and we believe shows the administration’s continued focus on drug pricing.”
For more on Trump plans for the pharmaceutical industry, watch Fortune’s video:
Long awaited legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act was unveiled by House Republicans on Monday—and immediately proved controversial. As to how drug prices would be lowered, the lack of details in Trump’s tweets left analysts scratching their heads, according to Bloomberg.
Currently the U.S. doesn’t directly regulate drug prices, unlike most other rich countries. U.S. per capita healthcare expenditure in the U.S. far outpaces other rich countries; medical expenditure is the principal cause of individual bankruptcy.
