Vaccination stocks fall after Peter Marks of the FDA via RFK Jr.
Rafael Henrique | Light rocket | Getty pictures
The stocks of the most important vaccination plants fell back on Monday after an important US health officer in protest against the views of the health and human service, Robert F. F. Kennedy Jr., resigned to immunization.
The departure of Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration, has caused new fears whether the Trump government will quickly approve and promote critical recordings. In its position, Marks supervised the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines and rules for the use of newly emerging treatments such as cell and gene therapies.
Shares of Modern And Novavax Both closed more than 8% lower on Monday. Meanwhile the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF Shot almost 4%.
Some Wall Street analysts said that the departure of Marks could undermine the Mission of the FDA to ensure that secure and effective treatments in the United States achieve a difficult biotech sector.
“When we take a step back, we see this departure as a significant negative for the biopharm and the biotech sectors, since the independence of the FDA for the solid scientific rigor is of crucial importance for its efficient functioning,” said analysts of BMO capital markets in a note on Monday.
Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biological Affairs and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), speaks on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, during a hearing on health, educational, work and pension committee in Washington, DC, USA.
Greg Nash | Bloomberg | Getty pictures
In his CNBC resignation letter on Friday, Mark Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” criticized the immunization. He said that a growing measles outbreak that began in Texas was as a result of the “undermining of trust in well -established vaccines”.
“As you know, I was ready to work myself to visit the secretary’s concerns about the security and transparency of the vaccine by the public and to implement a variety of different public meetings and commitment with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine,” wrote Marks. “However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but he wants submissive confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, has already taken steps from which experts in public health could prevent routine vaccinations in the United States. The centers for the control and prevention of diseases also carry out a study of lengthy connections between vaccines and autism, which a researcher led to a history of the spread of misinformation about shots.
Analysts from Leerink Partners stated on Monday that the impact of the resignation of Marks on Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks will partially depend on who will replace it at the FDA and whether the Republicans in the White House and the Congress begin to lose patience with his approach. Other analysts also emphasized that Marks was only an agency official and found that the new FDA commissioner Marty Makary has a success story about the support of the proven treatments.
“Although many believe that the resignation of the markings is a very bad omen for the healthcare industry and the innovation as a whole, it may be a bit premature to throw a shadow too dark on the entire pharmaceutical and biotech,” wrote Mibuho Securities Analyst Jared Holz.
– Angelica Peebles and Annika Kim Constantino from CNBC contributed to this report
