Pharma Stocks' Slide Hasn’t Deterred These Lawmakers

Drugmakers have taken a beating on Wall Street in recent months, perhaps because President Donald Trump has threatened the pharmaceutical industry with tariffs and demanded it reduce prices while his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has questioned the safety of its products.

Amidst the turmoil, pharma stocks have taken a hit. But a POLITICO review of stock trading by lawmakers found that many, including Republicans, are buying — suggesting they don’t think the Trump administration’s attacks on the industry are going to do lasting damage. Members of Congress are allowed to trade stocks, so long as they disclose their purchases.

Representatives and senators purchased up to $2.9 million in pharmaceutical stocks in the first six months of the Trump administration, financial disclosures say, and Republicans outpaced Democrats in share purchases, investing as much as $1.8 million in drug companies, while Democrats were more likely to sell assets.

The S&P 500 index of pharmaceutical companies is down more than five percent on the year and more than 14 percent in the previous 12 months. The broader index is up 2 percent and 10 percent over the same periods.

Far-right congresswoman and vaccine skeptic Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is a frequent investor in pharma, disclosing 12 purchases of stocks in pharmaceutical companies since Trump took office on Jan. 20, including two purchases of Merck stock, each worth $1,001-$15,000, and a purchase of stock in Johnson & Johnson worth $1,001-$15,000.

In a statement, Greene said her investments are controlled by an outside financial adviser. “Since my portfolio manager makes my trades for me, I usually find out about them when the media asks,” she wrote.

Rep. Jefferson Shreve (R-Ind.) is also a top investor, purchasing pharmaceutical stocks 12 times this year, including a $50,001-$100,000 stake in Abbvie, before participating in a market sell-off following Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs. Those tariffs tanked the market broadly but Trump did not impose levies on drugs. The president has said he plans to do so eventually.

Hannah Benfield, a spokesperson for Shreve, told Politico that the transactions belong to a charitable remainder trust managed by outside professionals without the input of the congressman. “Mr. Shreve has not traded any personally-held securities since he entered Congress,” she added.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, leads his party in purchases and sales of pharmaceutical stocks, reporting at least 70 transactions in the past six months in trusts belonging to his children and spouse, including eight purchases of Johnson & Johnson stock, each worth $1,001-$15,000 and four stock purchases worth $15,000-$50,000 each in Abbvie, Merck, and Pfizer. His office has said to other outlets the accounts are diversified and managed by outside advisers.

In addition to threatening tariffs — Trump has asked the Commerce Department to determine whether American dependence on foreign manufacturers represents a national security threat — he has vowed to force drugmakers to lower prices by up to 80 percent. In May, he signed an executive order to implement a so-called “most favored nation” policy, tying U.S. drug prices to the lowest price in other wealthy nations.

Kennedy has moved aggressively to overhaul vaccine guidance to the public. He recently fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory panel on vaccines, replacing them with advisers who have criticized some vaccines. Before that, he pulled back guidance recommending pregnant women and healthy children receive Covid vaccines.

Several Democrats who purchased pharmaceutical stock have also supported efforts to lower drug costs. Following Trump’s drug pricing executive order, Khanna introduced a bill to codify its core provisions. House Democrats Gil Cisneros of California and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey have campaigned to lower health care costs. Each has reported more than a dozen stock transactions involving pharmaceutical companies this year, with Cisneros most recently purchasing $15,001-$50,000 of shares in Johnson & Johnson and $1,001-$15,000 of Pfizer shares, while selling $1,001-$15,000 in Eli Lilly and Merck stock.

A spokesperson for Cisneros said the congressman and his wife have employed an outside adviser to manage their portfolios. A spokesperson for Gottheimer also told POLITICO that the investments are managed by a third party and that the congressman is working to pass legislation requiring top government employees to place any stocks or bonds in a blind trust.

Khanna maintained his calls to lower drug pricing in a conversation with POLITICO. “We need to take the fight to Big Pharma to lower prices for Americans,” he said, adding that he has taken on drug companies the entirety of his nine years in Congress and has one of the “strongest records” on the issue.

Lawmakers are required to disclose their stock trades within 30 days under the STOCK Act enacted in 2012 in response to concerns that they could use insider knowledge of Congress to time their trading. Some have sought to ban them from trading altogether. The law allows them to broadly state the value of their trades. POLITICO examined transactions filed by members of Congress involving the thirteen largest U.S.-headquartered pharmaceutical companies: AbbVie, Amgen, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, Regeneron, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Viatris, and Zoetis.

Investors have long considered pharmaceutical stocks a defensive option in times of economic uncertainty. Almost a fifth of the stock purchases tracked by POLITICO occurred in the week following Trump’s April 2 Liberation Day tariffs, which triggered a sharp drop in stock markets. Thirty percent of the stock purchases occurred in May.