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Health care stocks were easily outpacing gains among other industry sectors today, with the NYSE Health Care Index were rising nearly 1.3% while shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 were up more than 1.2% as a group.
In company news, Ekso Bionics Holdings ( EKSO ) retreated Thursday, earlier hitting a session low of $1.02 a share, just 3 cents shy of its 52-week low after the exoskeleton technology company today said it has completed a $34 million rights offering, including a $20.5 million investment by Puissance Capital Management.
The company is issuing a total of 34 million shares at $1 each, a 26% discount to the stock's closing price on Aug. 30, the night before the rights offering concluded. Rights-holders received almost 13.5 million common shares while Puissance Capital subscribed for the remaining 20.5 million shares.
Puissance Capital chief investment officer Ted Wang - a former partner at Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and the founder of a DNA microchips manufacturer, Xeotron Corp. - is expected to soon join the Ekso Bionics board in connection with the firm's $20.5 million investment.
Net proceeds from the rights offering are expected to fund ongoing clinical, sales and marketing initiatives at Ekso and will also be used to promote use of its robotic exoskeletons in industrial and home settings as well as for rehabilitation and other medical uses.
In other sector news,
(+) NLNK, (+53.8%) Data from an ongoing phase 2 study of indoximod in combination with Merck's ( MRK ) Keytruda showed improved response rate for patients with advanced melanoma.
(-) ALNY, (-13.5%) Suspends all testing of its fitusiran drug candidate after a patient with hemophilia A died from a thrombotic event. Expects to resume dosing in the phase 3 study after revising the trial protocols to increase patient monitoring and safety.
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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.
