Billions in market cap are being shed as the markets reel over President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. Eli Lilly’s value has dropped more than $95 billion in just one month.
Pharma is feeling the pain as the broader markets tumble in the wake of President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. While the industry has managed to dodge tariffs for now, the largest companies have lost hundreds of billions in market value in the past month.
Eli Lilly has lost $95.4 billion in market value in just one month. Rival weight loss pharma Novo Nordisk has dropped $72.4 billion in the same time period.
The decline at many of the other top 10 pharmas by market cap was less extreme but equally apparent. AbbVie has lost $52.5 billion in equity value and Johnson & Johnson, the largest healthcare company in the world until recent years, went down by $40.8 billion.
Novo’s shares have seen the steepest decline, with a 21% drop on April 4 that brought the stock down to about $62. The Danish company’s shares peaked at $145 apiece in June 2024. That’s a 51% decline in one year.
Lilly’s stock is still sky-high. The shares were worth about $777 apiece a year ago and closed Tuesday at $730, a 6% decline. But within the past year, the stock has hit as high as $957.
Pharma is not alone in this market misery right now. The S&P 500 has declined 12% in one month and 14% year to date, so every industry is feeling the weight of the macro headwinds.
Jefferies said in an investor note that the tariffs—which have yet to hit pharma specifically—“have triggered a continued flight to safety” in the sector. S&P’s biotech index, the XBI, has dropped nearly 19% in one month and 21% year to date.
Trump has not yet followed through on threats to place tariffs on the pharma industry specifically and the true impact will not be known until he does. Truist Securities analysts said the market damage is already being done. In a note to investors on Monday, they wrote, “We expect to see more volatility in biopharma until greater clarity.”
