Shares in AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN), the largest company on the FTSE 100 index, and fellow blue chip GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) were down 1.4% and 1.9% respectively on renewed worries about US drug tariffs.
The pharmaceutical pair were a large drag on the London index after US President Donald Trump said tariffs on imported drugs could be imposed “very soon”, echoing comments from two months ago.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, he said: "We’re going to be doing pharmaceuticals very soon. That’s going to bring all the companies back into America. It’s going to bring most of them back, at least partially, back in."
Earlier in the week, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy was reported to be looking at a crackdown on drug advertising.
A potential "major tariff" on pharmaceuticals was mooted by the President in April, with the aim of onshoring drug manufacturing.