Healthcare stocks were rising pre-bell Thursday, with the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) 0.3% higher and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) up 0.4%.
Ensign Group (ENSG) shares were up more than 2% after the company said it has purchased the real estate and operations of two skilled nursing facilities in Texas.
Hutchmed (HCM) stock was up more than 6% after the company said China's National Medical Products Administration granted conditional approval to marketing application of its therapy, Orpathys, to treat certain patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Takeda Pharmaceutical (TAK) has partnered with Insilico Medicine to use the latter's Pharma.AI platform to advance drug candidates across selected therapeutic areas, Hong Kong-listed Insilico said. Shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical were up more than 2% premarket.