On this Thursday evening, Donald TrumpPresident-elect of the United States, made an (expected) announcement that caused shivers, apprehensions and gnashing of teeth in the pharmaceutical industry:Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He will be the country’s Secretary of Health and Social Services, equivalent to being Minister of Health. An outspoken anti-vaccine campaigner will be at the forefront of health and pharmaceutical policies in the world’s main drug market.
The stock market impact was practically immediate. Almost all pharmaceutical industry stocks closed in the red. Declines in laboratory stocks, both in the United States and Europe, were widespread due to potential restrictions on drugs due to a Kennedy Jr. who even threatened to dismantle the Food & Drugs Administration (FDA).
Trump himself has joined the movement. In the announcement of his nomination (via the social network X), the Republican declared that “for too long, Americans have been crushed by the food industrial complex and pharmaceutical companies that have engaged in public health deception, misinformation, and misinformation.“.
I am pleased to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies that have engaged in deception, misinformation, and misinformation when…
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2024
Tough times lie ahead for the healthcare sector. The Trump administration is threatening the world’s largest drug market, which accounts for more than 44% of global sales.. In addition, it is the most avant-garde ecosystem in pharmaceutical R&D, with annual investments of more than 72 billion euros.
However, the pessimism generated by the scenario generated by the nomination of Kennedy Jr. for the world of medicine. this could be good news for Europe (one of the few that could lead to Trump’s return to the White House).
The situation occurs at a time when, little by little, The European Union is losing the pharmaceutical R&D racekey to the strategic autonomy of the territory (as shown by the Covid pandemic and the supply problems of many medicines and health products).
The numbers sing. Even if in absolute figures the old continent remains second for these investments, its evolution is worrying. Efpia calculations indicate that between 2010 and 2022, R&D investments increased by 4.4% per year in the EU.
However, In the United States, it increased by 5.5% per year during the same period and in China it climbed to 20.7%.
The popular Draghi report rightly emphasizes that the pharmaceutical industry is one of the vectors of economic growth in the European Union in the face of progressive loss of competitiveness from which the aforementioned territories are suffering.
For that, Europe must take advantage of the opportunity that the Trump administration can offer it. Above all, knowing that the main victims of Trump Jr.’s possible policies would be precisely giants of the sector like Pfizer or Abbvie, companies with a great capacity to mobilize resources and of American origin but with a strong presence in the European Union.
But measures must be put in place to accelerate R&D investments and respond to one of the companies’ (and Draghi’s) assertions: improve the predictability of the European pharmaceutical market.
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There are spaces to do it. THE new European pharmaceutical legislation It is still being transformed in Europe and can be strengthened to attract American investment (or companies from any other territory).
However, The European Union is going through its own political ordeal. The latest elections to the European Parliament and the complications that arise in the election of new members of the Commission reveal that polarization also impacts European politics.
It would be a real shame if, for Trumpization that they risk suffering, Brussels and Strasbourg end up missing the opportunity that the next tenant of the White House opens up for them. fly investments in the United States. We’ll see. In the meantime, it’s time to enjoy the spectacle that Kennedy Jr. can offer, a character worthy of participating in an Iker Jiménez program.
