Stocks in the Healthcare sector rose as U.S. indexes mostly declined amid slow progress on Middle East negotiations.
AbbVie has agreed to buy Apogee Therapeutics for about $10.9 billion to bolster the pharmaceutical company's core immunology franchise. AbbVie said it would pay $135.11 a share in cash, a 49% premium to Thursday's closing price for the biotechnology company. It is one of the industry's largest deals so far this year.
The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to reverse its rejection of Regenxbio's experimental gene therapy for a rare and fatal brain disease, the company said, the latest about-face by the agency under new leadership.
Sanofi said it named Paulo Fontoura as new head of pharmaceutical research & development, as the French drugmaker's recently appointed chief executive moves to speed up its medicine pipeline after recent setbacks.
Global Healthcare Opportunities and CBC Group are discussing launching a new global fund after their merger, the firms' heads said, as the healthcare investors move to tap into Asia's rise as an innovation hub.
