Pharma stocks turned redder than a swing state after President-elect Donald Trump tapped anti-vaccine activist and unorthodox health advice-adherent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Secretary of Health and Human Services role on Thursday.

Investors pressed sell when Trump announced the nomination. The president-elect accused food and drug companies of “deception, misinformation, and disinformation,” promising that RFK Jr. will shake up the government’s approach to public health.

The bloodbath continued yesterday: Moderna and Pfizer closed down 7% and 5%, respectively, while Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk lost over 3% of its value.

What makes pharma bears anxious?

RFK Jr. previously promoted conspiracy theories about Covid immunity, and touted debunked studies showing a link between child immunization and autism. But he recently promised that vaccines won’t be banned, saying he intends to merely “restore the transparency” around vaccine safety data.

Still, experts worry that his stewardship of the country’s top health agencies could engender vaccine skepticism, leading to lower uptake of vaccines to shield against diseases like measles. Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control—which RFK Jr. would oversee—influence doctors’ advice and private insurers’ vaccine coverage.

• RFK Jr. vowed to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration, accusing it of suppressing non-pharmaceutical remedies and promising to purge workers with industry ties that constitute a conflict of interest.
• A mass staff exodus or expanded drug safety data requirements could lead to slower product approvals.

Beyond vaccines…RFK Jr. has been a vocal opponent of ultraprocessed foods and fluoridated tap water, while promoting raw milk and vitamin supplements as health boosters. He wants to dedicate at least 50% of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget to studying preventive and alternative medicine.

Looking ahead: RFK Jr.’s nomination could still be blocked by the Senate, where a majority vote is needed for presidential cabinet appointments.—SK

Conan O’Brien will host the next Oscars. Team Coco members, rejoice. The comedian and former late-night talk show host will emcee the 97th Academy Awards in March, he announced yesterday. While O’Brien hosted the Emmys in 2002 and 2006, this will be his first time leading “Hollywood’s biggest night,” which drew a four-year high of 19.5 million viewers earlier this year. O’Brien replaces fellow late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the last two ceremonies, but reportedly declined to do a third in a row. “America demanded it and now it’s happening,” O’Brien said in a statement.

Coca-Cola’s AI Christmas ad was met with backlash. The holidays are coming, and so is the AI-generated “slop,” as several social media users argued this week. Coca-Cola unveiled an updated version of its iconic 1995 Christmas truck ad, except this one was made using artificial intelligence as a way to modernize the commercial while saving time and money, the company’s EU chief marketing officer told Marketing Week. Viewers were none too pleased, taking to comment sections across the internet to complain about the AI transformation. A popular grouse was that the AI-generated people—like many AI creations—look almost human, but not quite real.

Trump narrowed his picks for treasury secretary. The president-elect reportedly met with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent—seen as the frontrunner for the top financial role—at Mar-a-Lago yesterday. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a longtime supporter of Trump, is also considered one of the leading contenders. One person who will not be the next treasury secretary is Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow, who was seen as a potential candidate but recently took his name out of the running, the Wall Street Journal reported. In an op-ed this week, Bessent endorsed Trump’s controversial tariff plans.—AE

After a generous post-election day payout, even more money is flowing into an Elon Musk company.

His company xAI, the startup that brought you “Grok,” is raising $6 billion to reportedly buy 100,000 Nvidia chips, CNBC reported. The funding round will value Musk’s company at $50 billion, making it the 6th most valuable startup in the world.

Musk’s AI to-do list is long: With the president-elect in his back pocket, and his own chatbot company swimming in investor money, Musk is doubling down on his fight with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. In an amendment to his lawsuit against the rival AI company filed this week, Musk expanded antitrust accusations and added Microsoft (and its VP Dee Templeton) as well as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman as defendants.

Some history: Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a group that included Altman and Greg Brockman, but left in 2018. Earlier this year, he sued the company, alleging it created an unfair monopoly in the AI space and flipflopped on its initial open source promises. He dropped the suit three months later, but brought it back in August, beefed up with even more alleged wrongdoings. OpenAI called the complaints a “PR stunt.”—MM

And not just with someone who thinks we faked the moon landing. This week, former US officials alleged in a Congressional hearing that parts of the government are covering up a wealth of knowledge about UFOs. The Pentagon also shared updated numbers on mysterious sightings.

Twenty-one of the 700+ Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs (the new lingo for UFO), reported last year remain unexplainable, according to the government’s agency on anomalous sightings, AARO. Some looked like orbs, cylinders, or triangles, but there was no actual evidence of extraterrestrial origins, according to the agency.

But, at the hearing, Luis Elizondo, the former head of a discreet Pentagon aerospace threat program, testified that “advanced technologies not made by our government—or any other government—are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe,” and that the US knows this and has recovered some of these vessels.

And…journalist Michael Shellenberger, referencing help from whistleblowers, testified that US military and intelligence officials have amassed a trove of UAP data and hi-res images. A retired Navy admiral also told Congress that after he and other commanders received the now-declassified “Go Fast” video when the incident happened in 2015, it was wiped from their inboxes the next day.

Looking back…the testimonies align with statements made to Congress last year by former Pentagon official David Grusch.—ML

NYC has been first to do a lot of things in the US: build a subway system, create an official police department, and reveal how many hot dogs a human being can eat in 10 minutes. Soon, you can add another item to the city’s list of famous American firsts—congestion pricing.

After a dramatic back-and-forth, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul now says she supports the plan, which would charge drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th St. during peak hours. In theory, that would reduce traffic and provide funding for much-needed upgrades to the city’s public transit system. But it might be shortlived: While it could start before Donald Trump is inaugurated for his second term, the president-elect said he intends to block any attempt to introduce congestion pricing to the Big Apple.—AE