“You know the middleman, right?” Trump told reporters Monday. “The horrible middleman that makes more money frankly than the drug companies, and they don’t do anything except they’re a middleman,” he said. “We’re going to knock out the middleman.”

Trump made his middlemen comment after a dinner he had with leaders from Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co. and his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

UnitedHealth, CVS and Cigna, which own the largest prescription drug middlemen, also saw their shares sink after Trump criticized the system in a news conference.