Pharma stocks went on a wild ride Wednesday amid whiplashing tariff threats from the U.S. president.
The threat of tariffs has put the pharma industry through the wringer this week. On Wednesday, a week after instituting widespread tariffs and a day after promising that “major” tariffs were headed for pharma specifically, President Donald Trump abruptly paused most newly enacted import taxes, sparking a rally across the markets.
Eli Lilly’s shares, which have declined 13% in one month, perfectly illustrated the one-day trend. After closing Tuesday at $726, the stock plummeted to a low of $691 around 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Then, immediately following Trump’s announcement that tariffs—with the exception of China—would be paused for 90 days, Lilly’s shares spiked, forming a steep cliff that ultimately peaked at $755.
Other pharmas such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Amgen followed a similar pattern. The overall market rallied, too, with the S&P 500 soaring about 10% to end the day Wednesday.
The market whiplash capped a whirlwind day, which began with Trump specifically threatening tariffs against the pharma industry. Analysts decried the planned tax as unhelpful to the industry’s mission.
In an after-market note Wednesday, Truist Securities analysts said the continued uncertainty has pushed out the biotech sector’s recovery to the second half of 2025. Large pharma, meanwhile, likely won’t see a market recovery until the first half of 2026.
Even with the last-minute rally yesterday, the shares of major pharmaceutical companies are down significantly over the past month. And some, like Novo Nordisk, Roche and AbbVie, did not see the same late-day rally as their peers.
The industry could still be in for a wild ride. Later in the day Wednesday, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent clarified that the pause only applies to reciprocal tariffs, not to tariffs against specific sectors. Pressed further by a reporter, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that sector-specific tariffs are coming soon.
“We still fear pharma tariffs soon,” Leerink titled a Thursday morning note to clients. The tariffs could come as soon as next week, according to the firm’s analysts.
“There is no quick fix for exposed companies, in our view,” Leerink wrote, echoing multiple analyses in the days leading up to Trump’s pharma-specific comments. “Good news is that biopharma companies have likely been onshoring as much pharmaceutical product as possible recently, so they may not have to pull 2025 financial guidance.”
