Stocks of major drug makers and biotech companies tumbled in trading late this week after President-elect Donald Trump announced that he wants vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released a statement following Trump’s pick, but didn’t mention Kennedy by name, setting the stage for behind-the-scenes lobbying.
PhRMA represents the biggest drug makers in the world, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly and Company. Some of these companies lost billions of dollars in market capitalization from the time Trump announced Kennedy’s nomination through Friday’s trading.
It may take only three votes to sink Kennedy’s confirmation in the U.S. Senate depending on whether Democrats retain Bob Casey’s seat in Pennsylvania where a Republican is leading and could become the 53rd Republican in the 100-member Senate.
While it’s unlikely Kennedy will win much, if any, support from Democrats in the Senate, there are several Republicans with ties to PhRMA or medical groups who could derail Kennedy, who has long pushed discredited theories about dangers of vaccines and other U.S. approved medicines.
PhRMA is long known to have key ties to influential Republicans in Washington like U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a 91-year-old Iowa Republican who has long held high-ranking roles on influential health committees including a one-time chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee when he was younger. Kennedy will face a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
Stephen J. Ubl, long-time president and chief executive officer at PhRMA and other PhRMA staffers worked for or had longtime ties with Grassley as well as the finance committee, which handles most major healthcare legislation including funding of the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and Medicaid coverage for poor Americans.
Aside from the life-saving pharmaceuticals they develop, drug makers often stress their position as employers of hundreds of thousands of Americans when they win over votes of Senators. In North Carolina, for example, several drug makers have manufacturing and research facilities and the state is represented by Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd.
Though PhRMA’s statement on Thursday didn’t mention Kennedy other than to acknowledge he was nominated, it hinted at the industry’s importance to the economy.
“This industry is a crown jewel of the American economy, giving American patients more medicine choices than anywhere else in the world and supporting millions of high-paying, high-tech jobs around the country,” PhRMA said in the statement the group said was released by Ubl and the organization. “The men and women in our industry wake up every day focused on improving public health and treating the most devastating diseases affecting patients. Biopharmaceutical innovation has made tremendous progress in the fight against disease – dramatically improving cancer survival rates, curing hepatitis C, and eliminating devastating diseases like polio and smallpox.”
Meanwhile, there are four Republican Senators who are also physicians that have – unlike Kennedy – medical degrees and close ties to doctor groups that have clashed with Kennedy’s anti-vaccination stances in the past. Republican Senators who are also physicians are: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Roger Marshall of Kansas.
But a two-byline story in the Wall Street Journal last week indicated drug companies might be willing to work with Kennedy, calling his selection as HHS Secretary a “worst-case scenario” for drug makers.
“Now, they will try to make the best of it,” the newspaper reported.
”Kennedy has supported discredited theories that link vaccines to autism and antidepressants to school shootings,” the journal reported. “If confirmed as HHS secretary, he could push to end drug advertising on television and liability protections for vaccine makers. He could also target company user fees that subsidize drug-approval reviews.”
Meanwhile, opposition among anti-abortion activists was rising late this week that could help PhRMA’s cause.
Politico Friday evening led its “West Wing Playbook” with the headline “RFK Jr.’s abortion record riles the right.” Calling former Republican vice president Mike Pence an anti-abortion crusader, Politico reported Pence warned that Kennedy would be “the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history.”
