Healthcare stocks rose Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index adding 0.6% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) increasing 0.5%.

The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) climbed 1.9%.

In corporate news, Novartis (NVS) shares gained 2.9% after the company said a phase 1/2 trial of its experimental treatment del-brax met both primary and key secondary endpoints in people with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) won approval from UK regulators for its Wegovy pill, a daily oral version of semaglutide, for weight management in adults with obesity or overweight and a weight-related condition. Novo shares rose 1.2%.

Some employers in the US intend to drop coverage of GLP-1 medications for weight loss in 2027 amid the increasing popularity of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's (LLY) Zepbound and Foundayo, Reuters reported, citing the Business Group on Health, a policy research group for large employers. Lilly shares were up 1.5%.