Trump just singled out pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in a tweet about drug pricing

REUTERS/Adam Hunger

• President Donald Trump on Monday singled out pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in a tweet about drug pricing.
• "Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason," Trump tweeted. "They are merely taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves, while at the same time giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere. We will respond!"
• The tweet sent Pfizer's stock down for a moment before recovering.
• Watch Pfizer trade in real time here.

President Donald Trump singled out pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in a tweet on Monday, sending shares lower by a little more than 1% before partially rebounding.

"Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason," Trump tweeted. "They are merely taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves, while at the same time giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere. We will respond!"

The Financial Times reported on July 2 that Pfizer had increased the price of 100 of their products, including Viagra. Pfizer wasn't the only drugmaker to raise the list price of their medication, though according to a note Monday from Morgan Stanley, Pfizer was one of four pharmaceutical companies that have taken two rounds of price increases on eight of their drugs in 2018.

It's not the first time the president has addressed the rising cost of prescription drugs, nor the first time he's singled out a particular company.

In August 2017, amid Merck CEO Ken Frazier's withdrawal from Trump's manufacturing council, Trump tweeted that the move would give Frazier more time to "LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!"

And in May, the Trump administration came out with a plan to lower drug prices. Later, Trump said he expected some drugmakers to take "voluntary massive drops in prices." Those have yet to materialize.

Markets Insider

Get the latest Pfizer stock price here.