Healthcare stocks were lower today with the NYSE Healthcare Sector Index falling about 0.1% and shares of healthcare companies in the S&P 500 also were down 0.1% as a group.
In company news, shares of Biota Pharmaceuticals Inc. ( BOTA ) were up more than 10% Friday afternoon after the drugmaker's chief executive this week added to his personal stake in the maker of anti-bacterial and anti-viral products.
Russel Plumb acquired a total of 32,031 BOTA shares in a short string of open-market purchases on Tuesday and Wednesday, paying a combined $95,692, or about $2.99 a share, according to a new regulatory filing. The deals boost his overall stake to 127,579 shares.
BOTA shares recently were ahead 12.5% at $3.43 apiece, or 4 cents under its session high. The stock has a 52-week range of $2.35 to $7.07 a share, slipping about 3.5% over the past 12 months.
In other sector news,
(+) NKTR, (+13.5%) FDA advisory panel recommends against requiring cardiovascular outcomes trials for peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist drugs, including the company's Movantiktm drug candidate for opoid-induced constipation.
(-) OMED, (-14.9%) Voluntarily halts patient enrollment and dosing in Phase 1 testing of vantictumab and Fzd8-Fc, its prospective monoclonal antibody cancer treatments.
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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.
