Top Health Care Stocks
JNJ +1.29%
PFE +0.17%
ABT +1.38%
MRK +2.40%
AMGN +1.39%
Health care stocks were rising, including a more than 1.2% gain for the NYSE Health Care Index in recent trade. Shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 also were up 1.3% as a group while the Nasdaq Biotechnology index was climbing about 0.9%.
Among health care stocks moving on news:
(-) Gilead Sciences ( GILD ) dropped about 4% after the biopharmaceuticals company said its selonsertib drug candidate to treat liver disease failed to meet the primary goal of a statistically significant improvement in fibrosis compared with a placebo during Phase III testing in patients with cirrhosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
In other sector news:
(+) Kamada ( KMDA ) rose nearly 4% after the specialty drugmaker earned $0.44 per share during its Q4 ended Dec. 31, improving on a $0.16 per share profit during the same quarter last year ago and also exceeding the analyst mean.
(-) Omega Healthcare Investors ( OHI ) slid about 6% after reporting non-GAAP Q4 funds from operations of $0.73 per share, down from $0.79 per share during the year-ago period and lagging the Capital IQ consensus by $0.03 per share.