Pharma Stocks in Europe Jump After White House Unveils Drug-Buying Site

By Adria Calatayud

European pharmaceutical stocks traded sharply higher after President Trump unveiled plans to launch a drug-buying website for consumers and a pricing deal with Pfizer, in a move that analysts say brings certainty for the industry.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Health Care index--dominated by Europe's big pharma stocks--rose as much as 3.1% in early European trading on Wednesday.

Shares in Switzerland's Roche Holding and Britain's AstraZeneca--both sector heavyweights--jumped more than 5%. Other big drugmakers such as Denmark's Novo Nordisk, Switzerland's Novartis, France's Sanofi and Britain's GSK all traded higher. Smaller companies like Germany's Merck KGaA, Belgium's UCB and Argenx, Denmark's Zealand Pharma and London-listed Hikma Pharmaceuticals also gained more than 4%.

European pharma stocks tracked gains in the U.S. on Tuesday, with Pfizer shares closing 6.8% higher.

The gains came after Trump's plans to launch a government-run website, dubbed TrumpRx, for consumers to buy drugs directly from manufacturers at discounted rates and a pricing deal with Pfizer. The moves follow weeks of uncertainty for the industry over U.S. drug prices after Trump sent a letter to big pharma companies in July urging them to lower the cost Americans pay for medicines.

Trump said Pfizer would offer all of its drugs to Medicaid at "most favored nation" prices--reflecting those of other developed nations--and to introduce new drugs to the U.S. market at reduced prices. In return, the company said it gains a three-year grace period to exempt it from national-security-related tariffs.

Pfizer also agreed to sell some of its most popular drugs on the new platform at steep discounts, Trump said.

"[Tuesday's] announcement was specific to Pfizer, but may represent a blueprint for broader cooperation between the pharma industry and the Trump administration," analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note to clients.

Pfizer's deal brings clarity in terms of tariff and drug pricing and similar moves from large pharma peers could follow, analysts at Berenberg said in a separate note.

Analysts and investors had been more concerned about the potential fallout for the pharma industry of the Trump administration's drug-pricing policies than on the prospect of tariffs.

Trump last week announced a 100% tariff on imports of branded or patented pharmaceutical products, but said drugmakers building plants in the U.S. would be exempted.

Most of Europe's biggest pharma companies have outlined multibillion-dollar investment plans to expand their U.S. footprints, and shares in some of them rose after Trump's tariff announcement last week.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2025 04:54 ET (08:54 GMT)