Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Stocks Weigh Down U.S. Markets
The Associated Press: Stocks Close Mostly Down Despite Rally In Energy Sector
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)
The Wall Street Journal: Health-Stock Selloff Saps Market’s Momentum
A sharp selloff in health-care shares snapped the S&P 500’s 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)
Reuters: Biotechs Extend Selloff As Pricing Concerns Intensify
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)
Bloomberg: Biotech Rout Back As Profits Become Latest Investor Concern
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)
Bloomberg: Cures-For-Dollars Model Comes Undone As Biotech Stocks Sink
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 sector’s business practices, including what companies spend on research and how much they can charge. (Armstrong and Coons, 10/6)
Bloomberg: Glenview Fund Said To Lose 12% Last Month On Healthcare
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)
