European pharma stocks fall ahead of Trump's 'Liberation Day'

Shares in healthcare companies drop on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump is set to unveil his reciprocal tariff plans, which he deemed "Liberation Day"

STOXX 600 Healthcare index .SXDP falls 2.5% to its lowest since December at 0819 GMT, leading sectoral losses on wider STOXX 600 .STOXX index, which is down 0.9%

"This might be a reaction to the tariff announcements expected today from the U.S. administration, which this time could focus on the pharmaceutical sector," an analyst says

"(...) it's not surprising that pharma stocks have been caught up in this wave of nervousness," Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says

Among single stocks, Bayer BAYGn.DE and Sanofi SASY.PA fall 4.7% and 3.3%, respectively, while Lonza LONN.S and Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO are down around 2.7%

Novartis NOVN.S, Roche ROG.S and Merck MRCG.DE fall between 1.6% and 2.7%

AstraZeneca AZN.L, Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO, GSK GSK.L and UCB UCB.BR drop 2.5%-3.7%