Hillary Clinton's defeat in Tuesday's presidential election has one industry breathing a sigh of relief, at least for now: pharmaceuticals.

Drug-company stocks were among the rare risers in European trading Wednesday, as the threat of a Clinton-led crackdown on drug prices in the U.S. evaporated.

Mrs. Clinton had presented detailed plans to keep a lid on drug-price rises in the U.S., an issue that has drawn intense political and public scrutiny recently. Her proposals included penalties for "unjustified" price increases on older treatments and a cap on some patients' monthly and annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs.

Those plans, and repeated promises throughout her campaign to take on drug prices, had a chilling effect on drug stocks since she first voiced her intentions in a single tweet more than a year ago.

Also boosting pharmaceutical stocks Wednesday is the failure of a motion aimed at capping drug prices for certain federal drug plans in California.

Still, any relief for pharmaceutical investors could be short-lived: Donald Trump also took aim at high drug prices during his campaign, hinting at measures such as re-importation of drugs and giving Medicare powers to negotiate drug prices to limit price rises.

What's more, prices for some types of drugs already are under pressure from the powerful companies that negotiate prices on behalf of insurance plans and employers. Those companies, known as pharmacy-benefit managers, already have forced price cuts for insulin and some respiratory drugs.

Even so, Novo Nordisk A/S, which has taken a hammering from flat or falling insulin prices in recent months, was one of the strongest risers Wednesday afternoon. It was trading up nearly 4% at 234 Danish kroner.

Several pharmaceutical companies said it was too early to predict how the Trump presidency would affect the industry.

"On the one hand there is campaign rhetoric, and on the other there are the issues the successful candidate prioritizes, and the need for actions to be ratified by Congress," said a spokesman for Novo Nordisk. "We will therefore await concrete proposals."

Write to Denise Roland at Denise.Roland@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2016 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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