Drug Pricing Was Not Even Mentioned At The First Presidential Debate

Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump covered a lot of important issues during Monday night’s 1.5-hour debate. However, one issue that was not raised was the topic of prescription drug prices.

In the past year, Clinton has specifically called out Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX and Mylan NV MYL by name for their price hikes.

“It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” Clinton said back in August.

Related Link: Biotechs Are Down 17% Since Clinton First Put Industry On Blast Last September

The topic of drug prices has been one of Clinton’s core issues on the campaign trail, yet the subject of healthcare was not raised at all during the debate.

Traders are certainly taking note of the type of impact the debates can have on the market, as evidenced by Clinton’s words about private prisons rocking prison stocks on Tuesday.

“I’m glad that we’re ending private prisons in the federal system. I want to see them ended in the state system,” Clinton said during the debate.

Shares of Corrections Corp Of America CXW and The GEO Group Inc GEO fell 7.3 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, on Tuesday.

Debate moderator Lester Holt said that several key topics did not get covered due to time constraints, but it’s extremely likely drug prices will be discussed during at least one of the next two debates. Clinton will likely be tough on drug companies, and traders should consider going short the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) IBB prior to the next debate.

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