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Morning Briefing

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Wednesday, Oct 7 2015

Full Issue

Health Care Stocks Weigh Down U.S. Markets

Among the shares dropping are those in the biotech sector, which may be headed for its worst loss since 2011. Investors are worried over drug prices as disappointing earnings news also affects the stocks' value.

U.S. stocks paused Tuesday, closing moderately lower after five straight days of gains. DuPont and energy companies rose sharply, but the overall market was weighed down by health-care stocks, especially biotechnology companies. (10/6)

A sharp selloff in health-care shares snapped the S&P 500s five-day winning streak on Tuesday. ... Investors continued to hammer health-care stocks, particularly the biotechnology sector, taking profits from a yearslong rally as concerns rise over the scrutiny of pricing during the presidential campaign, said Bill Nichols, head of U.S. equity trading at Cantor Fitzgerald LP. Investors are concerned about the chances that all of a sudden, the gold at the end of the rainbow is lessened, he said. (Josephs, 10/6)

U.S. biotech shares extended their recent downward spiral on Tuesday as concerns about drug pricing continued to plague the sector while disappointing news from Illumina and other companies added to selling pressure. The Nasdaq Biotechnology index, down 4 percent, has now fallen about 17 percent since just before Hillary Clinton, front-runner to be the Democratic nominee in next year's U.S. presidential election, vowed on Sept. 21 to take steps to curb high drug prices. (Valetkevitch and Berkrot, 10/6)

Biotechnology stocks plunged Tuesday, with an index tracking the industry at one point heading for its worst loss since August 2011, after earnings warnings from companies that sell technology to drug firms and concern about pharmaceutical pricing reignited selling that began three weeks ago. (Renick and Garber, 10/6)

For the last five years, biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks have surged on an assumption about the companies that invent and sell drugs for American patients: Invent amazing treatments that save lives and cure the sick, and you can charge pretty much what you want. That thesis is under more pressure than any time in recent history, in part because of increasing scrutiny of how some drugmakers price their medicine. In the last month, media reports about price increases for therapies that have been on the market for years have caused Democratic presidential candidates to call for regulating the sectors business practices, including what companies spend on research and how much they can charge. (Armstrong and Coons, 10/6)

Glenview Capital Management, the hedge fund firm led by Larry Robbins, lost 12.4 percent in its main fund in September as bets on health-care companies suffered. The performance leaves the fund down 12.9 percent in 2015 through last month, according to a person with knowledge of the returns who asked not to be named because the information is private. Taylor Ingraham, a spokesman for the New York-based Glenview at ASC Advisors, declined to comment on the losses. (Foxman, 10/6)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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