Health care stocks were steady premarket Monday, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) up a slight 0.1% and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) recently inactive.
Merck (MRK) shares were up nearly 2% after the company said two phase 3 hyperlipidemia studies showed that enlicitide decanoate led to statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared with placebo and other oral non-statin therapies.
NewAmsterdam Pharma (NAMS) shares were more than 13% higher after the company said obicetrapib significantly reduced plasma biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease in a phase 3 trial.
Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM) shares were down more than 2% after the company said it received a refuse to file letter from the US Food and Drug Administration for its new drug application for AXS-14 in fibromyalgia.