Humana Reports Decline in Earnings -- Health Care Roundup

Health-care shares gained.

Humana shares shed 5.3% after the health insurer said profit fell in its latest quarter as the firm trimmed its workforce and earnings from its health-care-services business dropped. The company also gave a downbeat initial view of its earnings for 2018, saying its formal guidance would likely fall below its target range despite projected enrollment growth.

GlaxoSmithKline said it appointed Hal Barron as its next chief scientific officer, snagging one of the pharmaceutical industry's leading research luminaries to bolster its flagging drug pipeline.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals continued to surge after a strong earnings report Tuesday as the specialty drug maker's third-quarter revenue surpassed Wall Street targets and it made progress on debt management.

-By Amy Pessetto, amy.pessetto@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2017 17:53 ET (22:53 GMT)