Health Care Stocks Down on Biotech Retreat - Health Care Roundup

Shares of health-care companies fell sharply as traders retreated from the risky biotech niche. Merck shares had another sharp decline, following a 6% drop Friday on concerns about the outlook for sales of new cancer-immunotherapy market drugs. While sales of its immunotherapy treatment Keytruda are growing, Merck warned results of a widely followed clinical trial testing Keytruda in combination with chemotherapy in lung-cancer patients would be delayed. Novartis AG agreed to buy drug developer Advanced Accelerator Applications for $3.9 billion, a deal that would introduce experimental radioactive-style cancer drugs just as sales of blockbuster blood-cancer drug Gleevec slow down.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 30, 2017 16:39 ET (20:39 GMT)