Top Health Care Stocks
JNJ +0.24%
PFE +0.21%
ABT +1.31%
MRK -0.04%
AMGN +2.46%
Health care stocks were moderately higher in recent trading, including a nearly 0.6% gain for the NYSE Health Care Index. Shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 also were up 0.5% as a group while the Nasdaq Biotechnology index was gaining slightly more than 0.7%.
Among health care stocks moving on news:
- Dermira ( DERM ) plunged to a record low on Monday, sinking over 64% to a worst-ever $8.95 a share, after the early-stage pharmaceuticals company said its olumacostat glasaretil investigational treatment for moderate to severe acne vulgaris did not meet the co-primary endpoints during a pair of phase III clinical trials. Dermina plans to discontinue the program and chief executive Tom Wiggans said the company was "surprised and extremely disappointed by the results" of the program.
In other sector news:
- Aimmune Therapeutics ( AIMT ) climbed almost 11% to a Monday session high of $37.80 a share after Nestle Health Science US Holdings disclosed a 15% equity stake in the early-stage drugmaker, acquiring about 8.5 million shares, according to a new regulatory filing. The move follows the company saying its AR101 drug candidate to treat peanut allergies met its primary and secondary endpoints during phase III testing. The trial also showed an "encouraging" tolerability and safety profile over the course of the one-year trial period. Aimmune also said it now expects to apply for a biologics license for AR101 with US regulators by the end of the year and seek marketing authorization in Europe during the first half of 2019.
Boston Scientific ( BSX ) rose almost 2%, hitting a session high of $27.24 a share, after the medical device conglomerate said it has acquired privately held EMcision. Financial terms of the deal for device manufacturer developing cancer treatments were not disclosed. Boston Scientific does not expect the deal to have a material impact on its FY18 adjusted and GAAP earnings but but expects it to be accretive later.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
