By Sriparna Roy and Bhanvi Satija
(Reuters) -Shares of global vaccine makers were muted on Tuesday as investors and analysts took a “wait and watch” approach after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all members of an expert vaccine panel late on Monday.
Shares of AstraZeneca and BioNTech were marginally up, while those of GSK and Sanofi declined 1% and 0.2%, respectively. U.S. vaccine maker Moderna fell slightly in premarket trading, while Novavax and Pfizer traded marginally higher.Analysts said that while the unprecedented dismissals of all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) represented a risk for vaccine manufacturers, investors would wait to see any impact on the companies.
Since he was appointed as U.S. health secretary, Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has made several changes to reshape the regulation of vaccines, food and medicine. However, firing members of the ACIP remains his most far-reaching move yet.
Some analysts expressed concerns that the new committee members, who have not been named, might be more sympathetic to Kennedy’s views on vaccines, an idea shared by scientific experts and doctors.
While the makeup of a reconstituted ACIP is to be determined, “new members will likely be sympathetic to at least some of RFK’s beliefs regarding alleged dangers of vaccines”, Leerink analyst Daina Graybosch said in a note.
Graybosch said that the move could negatively impact approved vaccine recommendations and increase the burden of evidence and costs for future vaccine development.
Kennedy’s decision came less than three weeks before the next panel meeting set for June 25 to June 27 and is slated to discuss recommendations for who should receive vaccines for diseases like respiratory syncytial virus.
It is unclear when Kennedy will announce the new members, who the agency said are under consideration, or whether the agenda will follow the meeting description posted on the Federal Register on Monday.
“It’s hard to assess what the ultimate impact may be on vaccine makers as we don’t have much clarity on who will take these members’ places on the Committee,” said James Harlow, senior vice president at Novare Capital Management, which owns Pfizer shares.
Harlow added that sentiment around vaccine makers has been negative coming into the news.
“It would appear much has already been baked into the prices of these stocks,” he said.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said that RFK Jr.’s views have consistently skewed negatively to groups like ACIP, making the decision “less shocking in our eyes.”
Seigerman added that while the announcement introduces additional uncertainty into the sector, it likely represents “more headline risk than a true fundamental change at the agency.”
(Reporting by Joel Jose, Bhanvi Satija and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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