Pharma Selloff Eases as Companies Rebuff Cancer Claims (Correct)

GSK Plc and Sanofi rose for the first time this week following a selloff triggered by investors waking up to the risk that US juries could hold the drug companies accountable for cancers allegedly caused by contaminants in a once-popular antacid.

Shares in Britain’s GSK gained as much as 5% on Friday while the French group Sanofi rose 3.2% after both pharmaceutical giants said they would vigorously defend any claims and disputed the idea that an ingredient in the drug Zantac caused cancer.

The knee-jerk reaction to the Zantac litigation is “somewhat overdone,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Papadakis as ...