Drug stocks plummeted as President-Elect Donald Trump announced that he wants “new bidding procedures” for Big Pharma that would force drug companies to compete for government contracts.
“They are getting away with murder,” Trump said about drug companies at a press conference Wednesday. “Pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power and there is very little bidding on drugs. We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don’t bid properly and we’re going to start bidding and we’re going to save billions of dollars over a period of time.”
“The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index fell 2.6 percent at 11:28 a.m. in New York, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences Index was down 1.7 percent,” Bloomberg reports.
Trump also noted many drug manufacturers have relocated their legal addresses overseas to save on taxes, a situation he says he plans to address.
“We have to get our drug industry coming back,” Trump said. “Our drug industry has been disastrous. They’re leaving left and right. They supply our drugs but they don’t make them here, to a large extent.”
Trump added he has plans for similar actions in other industries.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.