Pharma stocks slide as Trump threatens price cuts in US

(Sharecast News) - Shares in pharmaceutical companies fell on Monday after US President Donald Trump threatened to sign an executive order to slash the price of prescription drugs for Americans. Trump said he would sign an order on Monday to cut prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices "almost immediately" by "30% to 80%".

"The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the "suckers" of America, ALONE," he wrote on social media on Sunday.

He added that it was "difficult to explain and very embarrassing" why US prices were higher compared with other countries and that he would introduce a "most favoured nation" policy, where the US pays "the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World".

Shares in pharma companies around the world were lower on the news, with AstraZeneca, GSK, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Sanofi, Sandoz and Haleon were all hit.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com