The latest Market Talks covering the Health Care sector. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1054 ET - Roche Holding's giredestrant, a high-profile drug candidate for breast cancer, didn't meet the primary goal in a late-stage trial, but this doesn't derail the turnaround of the company's pharma business, analysts at Bernstein say in a research note. While the news is unhelpful, it doesn't push a turnaround of the Swiss drugmaker's pharma research-and-development engine off track, the analysts say. Roche moved five drugs from midstage to late-stage trials last year and all five sit in its most promising pipeline bucket, with peak sales estimated at above 3 billion Swiss francs, Bernstein says. The trial that failed addresses less than 20% of the market for drugs to treat the most common type of breast cancer, which was valued at more than $10 billion, according to Bernstein. Shares fall 3.25%. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

0936 ET - The new partnership between Hims & Hers Health and Novo Nordisk reflects the dependence each company has on the other, say Truist analysts. "The rapid cycle of litigation followed by reconciliation underscores that, while both parties lack trust, they remain bound by mutual necessity," the analysts say. Novo will benefit from Hims' direct-to-consumer channel, helping it to counter Eli Lilly's growing GLP-1 share, while Hims needed to offer legitimate, branded GLP-1s to offset declining GLP-1 compounding revenue. The partnership is only likely to hold "as long as commercial incentives remain aligned," the analysts say. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

0849 ET - Hims & Hers shares jumped on the news that Novo Nordisk will end its lawsuit against the company and Hims will offer Novo GLP-1s on its platform. That removes a significant legal overhang for Hims, but the partnership could be a near-term hit to its business, say Truist analysts. As part of the deal, Hims will no longer offer compounded GLP-1 drugs, which previously composed a large chunk of its revenue. Still the durability of revenue from branded GLP-1s is much higher, especially given the legal threats Hims' compounded drugs faced. That may make investors willing to assign a higher multiple to Hims, the analysts say. Hims shares climb 51% premarket. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

0634 ET - Lonza's valuation of its capsule business looks "modestly disappointing," RBC Capital Markets' Charles Weston writes in a note to clients. The Swiss healthcare-business manufacturer said late Friday that it will offload a majority stake in its capsule and health-ingredient division to investment firm Lone Star Funds in a deal that values the business at 2.3 billion Swiss francs. That looks a little under what analysts and investors might have expected, Weston says. "This could be somewhat offset by positive sentiment around the buyback and future optionality for greater proceeds in the future and M&A deployment. RBC has an outperform rating and 670 franc target on Lonza stock; shares lose 2.1% to 493.3 francs. (joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby)

0422 ET - News that Roche's breast-cancer drug giredestrant didn't meet the primary objective of a late-stage study for breast cancer came as a surprise after two earlier studies for the same drug showed positive results, Vontobel's Stefan Schneider says in a research note. Vontobel says it estimated 2 billion Swiss francs in peak sales for the indication covered by the trial, with an 80% probability of success. This was the first of two phase 3 studies for giredestrant as a first-line treatment for breast cancer. Vontobel removes expected sales from the two from its models as it awaits results from the other trial, due next year, the analyst says. Vontobel also reduces its target price for the Swiss drugmaker to 346 francs from 356 francs. Shares fall 5.4% to 322.70 francs. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 09, 2026 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)

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