RFK and the ‘MAHA Trade’: Vaccine makers down, psychedelic shares up
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After dropping off the campaign trail to join Team Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has now been selected by the president-elect to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is the country’s top health bureau, overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. With a background in environmentalism, Kennedy is a Big Pharma skeptic and has promised to “end the corruption at the federal agencies.”
MAHA: “He’s going to help ‘Make America Healthy Again,'” Trump declared in a victory speech on election night. “He wants to do some things and we’re going to let him go to it.” RFK’s views on health and medicine really span the spectrum, and he will likely be given more of a free hand under the new administration to “go wild on health.” However, one area that Trump has said would be off-limits is fossil fuels, referencing that again recently by saying, “Bobbie, leave the oil to me.”
RFK’s first priority after taking the health helm will be to declare a national emergency over the “chronic disease epidemic.” That’ll include conditions like obesity, diabetes and autism, as well as reducing chemicals, additives and processed ingredients in food. Some of his other comments and positions have been more controversial, like recommending fluoride be removed from public water supplies, “sexual dysphoria” as a result of herbicides, damaging effects stemming from Wi-Fi, and a COVID pandemic that may have been engineered to target specific ethnicities.
Under the microscope: Markets have been focused on RFK’s views of immunizations, sending down shares of vaccine makers like BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) -7% and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) -7% following news of his HHS appointment. While RFK maintains he is “fully compliant with the vaccine schedule myself, except for COVID,” he has weighed into the topic with a heavy dose of skepticism. RFK has promised not to “take away anybody’s vaccines,” but his past comments suggesting links to autism, dangerous ingredients, safety risks, and efficacy of certain shots has the sector on watch. On the flip side, he has lambasted the FDA’s “aggressive suppression of psychedelics,” sending stocks like Atai Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ATAI) +14%, Incannex Healthcare (NASDAQ:IXHL) +5%, and Compass Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) +4%, up in early trading on Friday.