Health-Related Stocks Extend Gains -- Health Care Roundup

Health-care companies continued mild gains on demand for defensive sectors.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Sen. Mike Braun (R., Ind.) called on the federal government to investigate health insurers that are paying high prices for generic drugs for serious diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that big health insurers Cigna Group, CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group are paying multiples more for drugs such as cancer therapy Gleevec and multiple-sclerosis treatment Tecfidera than what manufacturers charge for generic versions.

The companies cited in the article rose.

The SPDR Select Sector Health Care exchange-traded fund, which tracks the health-care industry group of the S&P 500, edged higher.

Entrada Therapeutics shares dropped after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wouldn't lift the clinical hold it placed on the biopharmaceutical company's planned study of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug candidate.

Write to Mary de Wet at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-22-23 1559ET