On Thursday Healthcare Sector moved higher +0.73%.
Following Healthcare Stocks Overview: Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN), MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:THLD)
U.S. stocks rose Thursday as investors snatched up beaten-down energy-company shares, according to WSJ
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82.45 points, or 0.5%, to 17574.75. Chevron, the index’s biggest gainer, rose $1.70, or 1.9%, to $89.30.
The S&P 500 rose 4.61, or 0.2%, to 2052.23. Its energy-company index gained 0.6% but still is down 8% so far in December. Year to date, the S&P 500 is down 0.3%.
In Asia on Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average dropped 1.3%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5%.
Scientists have developed a new technology that can better characterise human skin using spectral imaging of melanin, hemoglobin and water, which could improve security, search and rescue operations.
Spectral imaging systems use information from the entire electromagnetic spectrum to provide digital images with much greater information per pixel than traditional cameras.
Feature spaces in a spectral imaging system are vectors that numerically represent an object’s characteristics.
“The features were designed based on an understanding of the physics behind skin’s spectral shape, but in such a way that the features separated skin and non-skin pixels in order to make the pattern recognition portion of the problem more effective,” said Mr Mendenhall.
(NYSE:PFE), (NASDAQ:GBSN), (NASDAQ:MNKD), (NASDAQ:THLD)
Shares of Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), gain 0.26% to $32.38.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) declared that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and granted Priority Review for a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Pfizer’s breast cancer medication, IBRANCE® (palbociclib). If approved, the sNDA would expand the approved use of IBRANCE to reflect findings from the Phase 3 PALOMA-3 trial, which evaluated IBRANCE in combination with fulvestrant as contrast to fulvestrant plus placebo in women with hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+, HER2-) metastatic breast cancer, regardless of menopausal status, whose disease progressed after endocrine therapy, counting those with and without prior treatment for their metastatic disease. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) aim date for a decision by the FDA is April 2016.
Shares of Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN), jumped 7.41% to $0.129.
Great Basin Scientific, Inc., a molecular diagnostic testing company, doing business as Great Basin Corporation, develops and commercializes molecular diagnostic systems that are designed to test hospital-attained infections. Great Basin Scientific Inc. declared that it held a special meeting of stockholders at which the stockholders approved a reverse stock split of the Company’s common stock at a ratio of between 1 for 50 and 1 for 60 to be selected at the sole discretion of the Company’s board of directors and on a record date to be determined by the board of directors in the near future. This news has bolstered the company’s shares up 20% recently from $0.11 to $0.1325 and continues to trade near its day high of $0.1440.
Shares of MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), inclined 9.68% to $1.70.
On Dec 7, Shares of MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD), a drug developer focused on developing therapies to treat diabetes, collapsed in November by 40% based on data from S&P Capital IQ. The culprit behind the steamrolling can be traced to the company’s third-quarter earnings release, a projected dual listing, and the departure of its CEO, according to fool
MannKind’s first problem came on Nov. 9 when it declared its third-quarter results. Although operating expenses reduced to $26 million from $38.3 million in the prior-year quarter, Afrezza, the company’s inhaled diabetes drug that’s licensed to Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), generated flat sequential quarterly sales of $2.2 million. It’s unclear whether it’s pricing, a lack of insurance coverage, or a lack of adequate physician or consumer education that’s holding Afrezza back, but in the early going Afrezza is looking like a flop. Ultimately this is weighing on MannKind’s shrinking cash pile and ballooning debt. Fool Report
MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic products for diabetes in the United States. Its lead product is AFREZZA inhalation powder, an insulin to control high blood sugar in adult patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. MannKind Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Valencia, California.
Finally, Shares of Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:THLD), ended its last trade with -7.03% loss, and closed at $0.520.
On December 7, Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD) declared the outcomes of two Phase 3 cancer studies (MAESTRO and TH-CR-406/SARC021) of evofosfamide (formerly known as TH-302), an investigational hypoxia-activated prodrug, which is being evaluated for first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma and advanced soft tissue sarcoma, in combination with chemotherapy. The Phase 3 studies are being conducted under Threshold’s partnershipwith Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Threshold) is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutic agents that selectively target tumor cells for the treatment of patients living with cancer. Threshold’s investigational small molecule, evofosfamide, is being evaluated in two Phase III clinical trials, one registrational Phase II clinical trial and various earlier-stage clinical trials for the treatment of various diseases, such as soft tissue sarcoma, pancreatic cancer, non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (n-s NSCLC), advanced melanoma, multiple myeloma and advanced solid tumors.