Top Health Care Stocks
JNJ +3.67%
PFE +2.29%
ABT +2.89%
MRK +3.67%
AMGN +3.92%
Health care stocks extended their gains this afternoon amid a modest selloff for most other sectors, with the NYSE Health Care Index climbing 3.9% while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF was up 2.2%. The Nasdaq Biotechnology index also was ahead 1.7% this afternoon.
Among health care stocks moving on news:
(+) Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPTI) rose 3.8% after privately held health care data processor Komodo Health said it was collaborating with the specialty drugmaker to accelerate patient access to a new trial to evaluate whether low doses of Karyopharm's selinexor cancer medicine can treat COVID-19 patients based on its anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.
In other sector news:
(+) Moleculin Biotech (MBRX) sped 126% higher after Wednesday saying researchers at the University of Frankfurt recently found the active compound in its WP1122 anti-viral drug candidate reduced replication of the virus causing COVID-19 by 100% during in-vitro testing. The researchers March 11 reported they were able to keep the SARS-Co-V-2 virus from converting glucose into energy using non-toxic concentrations of 2-deoxy-D-glucose. The company's WP1122 adds chemical elements that improves the delivery of 2-DG inside cells.
(+) GenMark Diagnostics (GNMK) was up about 34% after the electrochemical detection technology company said it is expecting to report an 80% year-over-year increase in Q1 revenue, rising to $38.7 million and blowing past the Capital IQ consensus looking for $26.5 million in revenue as the COVID-19 pandemic led to surging demand for testing equipment.
(-) eHealth (EHTH) tumbled 12% after a prominent short-seller said he believes the share price for the online health care insurance marketplace will fall because its business is inherently unprofitable. Carson Block, through his Muddy Waters Research, said growth at eHealth largely has been driven by direct response television advertising attracting high-churn enrollees, adding the company hides its unprofitability through aggressive accounting.
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