-- Health care stocks declined late Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Index down 0.6% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) shedding 0.9%.
The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) fell 1.5%.
In corporate news, Boston Scientific (BSX) shares fell 3.3% after Daiwa Securities downgraded the stock to neutral from outperform, and lowered its price target to $60 per share from $83 earlier.
AbbVie (ABBV) raised its full-year outlook on Wednesday as the biopharmaceutical company recorded better-than-expected Q1 results, driven by robust revenue growth from its Skyrizi and Rinvoq immunology drugs. Its shares rose 3.7%.
AstraZeneca (AZN) will invest 300 million pounds ($404.9 million) in the UK, focusing on its sites in Cambridge and Macclesfield, in a move aimed at boosting the country's life sciences sector, Bloomberg reported. AstraZeneca shares were down 1.1%.
KalVista Pharmaceuticals (KALV) and Chiesi Group said Wednesday they have signed an agreement through which Chiesi will buy KalVista for $27 per share in cash, or about $1.9 billion. KalVista shares surged 38%.