Top Health Care Stocks
JNJ -1.23%
PFE -1.02%
ABT +0.73%
MRK -0.51%
AMGN +0.31%
Health care stocks were mostly lower in late trade, including a more than 0.5% decline for the NYSE Health Care Index. Also today, shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 were down over 0.2% as a group while the Nasdaq Biotechnology index was rising more than 0.1% today.
Among health care stocks moving on news:
+ Hutchison China MediTech ( HCM ) rose almost 5% on Tuesday, reaching a session high of $36.44 a share, after saying it has begun Phase Ib/II testing in China of its epitinib drug candidate in patients with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer, by blocking the formation of epidermal growth factor receptor through gene amplifications. Glioblastoma harbors high levels of EGFR and epitinib is a potent and highly selective oral EGFR inhibitor that has demonstrated an ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. It also has shown encouraging efficacy during clinical studies in other indications, the company said.
In other sector news:
+ Clearside Biomedical ( CLSD ) climbed over 20% on Tuesday, hitting a session high of $12.45 a share, after the early-stage drugmaker said it has enrolled the first patient in a Phase II trial of a combination of its suprachoroidal CLS-TA product candidate with one of two intravitreal anti-VEGF agents, Lucentis or Avastin, in patients with macular edema associated with retinal vein occlusion. The new study will assess the safety and efficacy of CLS-TA, with a primary objective of determining the proportion of patients regaining corrected visual acuity iof at least 15 letters better than their baseline levels after eight weeks. Several secondary efficacy and safety endpoints also will be evaluated, the company said.
- Marinus Pharmaceuticals ( MRNS ) tumbled Tuesday, dropping almost 18% to a session low of $4.32 a share, after the specialty drug-maker reported an $0.80 per share FY17 net loss, improving on a net loss of $1.47 per share during the prior-year period but still missing the two-analyst consensus call expecting a $0.71 per share net loss last year. The early-stage company did not generate any revenue during its FY17, as expected.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company ( BMY ) has turned lower Tuesday afternoon, dropping more than 2% to a session low of $65.40 a share and reversing a nearly 1% advance soon after today's opening bell, after the biotech company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a supplemental biologics license application updating the dosing schedule of its Opdivo cancer treatment to include a 480-milligram infusion every four weeks for a majority of its approved indications. The agency previously approved a shorter 30-minute infusion across all approved indications as well as for a 250-milligram infusion every two weeks.
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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.
