Healthcare stocks rose Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) each adding 1.6%.
The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) advanced 1.3%.
In corporate news, Bio-Techne (TECH) shares surged nearly 20% after it said Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by Merck KGaA in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of about $11.3 billion, as the German drugmaker aims to expand its presence in life sciences markets.
Arovella Therapeutics (ASX:ALA) received ethics approval from The Alfred and Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committees to begin its phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial of ALA-101 drug candidate, a chimeric antigen receptor invariant natural killer T (CAR-iNKT) cell therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory lymphomas and leukemias, according to a Thursday Australian bourse filing.The trial is expected to involve up to seven clinical sites across Australia and New Zealand, the filing said. It will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of ALA-101.The company remains on track to begin first patient dosing in the September quarter.Arovella Therapeutics' shares fell past 1% in recent trading on Thursday and earlier hit their lowest since September 2023.
(Updates to add stock movement in the headline and the last paragraph)Tourism Holdings (ASX:THL, NZE:THL) received an additional non-binding indicative offer from an unnamed "credible strategic" buyer to acquire 100% of the company at a proposed price of NZ$3.30 to NZ$3.40 per share, according to a Thursday filing with the New Zealand and Australian bourses.The proposal is subject to customary conditions, including due diligence, board approval, regulatory and third-party consents, and unanimous board recommendation, subject to standard fiduciary carve-outs, per the filing.The company has allowed the bidder to conduct due diligence under a confidentiality agreement while emphasizing that no decision has been made and there is no assurance that a transaction will proceed, the filing said.The company is also engaged in discussions with the BGH consortium on a similar confidentiality agreement to support due diligence, the filing added.The company's shares on the New Zealand bourse rose 12% in Thursday trading and earlier reached their highest level since April 2024, while Australian shares gained 11%.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) won a seven-year US government contract worth up to $35 billion to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors.The award is one of the first major multiyear procurement contracts under the Pentagon's new acquisition strategy, Lockheed Martin said Wednesday in a statement.The contract implements a THAAD framework agreement signed in January and is intended to support long-term production scaling and strengthen the missile-defense industrial base for the US and its allies, the company said.Lockheed Martin shares rose 0.9% in after-hours trading.