Europe open: Pharma shares hit as Trump appoints Kennedy to head health

(Sharecast News) - European equity markets opened weaker on Friday with pharma stocks lower on news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr - who has made misleading statements on vaccines - had been appointed as Donald Trump's head of health. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.79% at 502.88 in early deals with all major bourses in the red.

Trump late on Thursday nominated Kennedy, who last year said he believe autism was caused by vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in his new administration when it takes power next January.

Pharmaceutical stocks such as GSK, Sanofi, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, UCB, Sartorius Stedim, Zealand Pharma and Roche were all knocked by the news.

In positive news for the sector, shares in Evotec surged as the German drug developer received an €11-per-share offer from Halozyme Therapeutics, valuing the company at about €2bn.

Generali also jumped as the Italian insurer posted better-than-expected 9-month profits.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com