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JNJ -0.15%
PFE +0.79%
ABT +2.37%
MRK +1.21%
AMGN +0.34%
Health care stocks were posting moderate gains, with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index ahead about 0.7% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 rising 0.5% as a group.
In company news, Horizon Pharma ( HZNP ) was narrowly lower Tuesday afternoon despite announcing late Monday positive results from Phase II testing of its Actimmune interferon gamma-1b medication in children with Friedreich's ataxia, finding the drug was well tolerated with no serious adverse events.
HZNP shares recently were down about 0.3% at $11.93 apiece, giving back a 4.6% rise to $11.46 a share early in Tuesday's trading. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $3.69 to $18.30 a share, rising about slightly more than 192% over the past 12 months through Monday's close.
The disease is a debilitating, degenerative neuro-muscular disorder affecting around 4,000 to 5,000 children and adults in the U.S. and another 10,000 individuals elsewhere around the globe, according to the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance. There currently is no approved FDA treatment for the disease.