Sector Update: Healthcare Stocks Higher Late Afternoon

03:44 PM EDT, 09/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Healthcare stocks rose late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index adding 0.8% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) up 0.6%. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) climbed 2%. In corporate news, Pfizer's (PFE) Canadian operation Pfizer Canada ULC and BioNTech (BNTX) said Thursday that Health Canada has authorized XFG-adapted COMIRNATY COVID-19 vaccine for individuals aged 6 months and older. Pfizer shares added 0.5%, and BioNTech gained 2.8%. Medical Properties Trust (MPT) shares rose 8% in Thursday trading, a day after the company completed the sale of two Idaho hospital properties to affiliates of Intermountain Health for $413 million. Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Orbis Medicines struck an up to $1.4 billion licensing deal for the private company to develop oral drugs for cardiometabolic diseases. Novo will also make a "strategic investment" in Orbis. Separately, Novo said Thursday that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency recommended marketing authorization for Frehemgo or denecimig in the EU to treat haemophilia A, a bleeding disorder. Novo shares rose 3.9%. Nuvation Bio (NUVB) shares gained 5.3% after the company said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its supplemental new drug application for taletrectinib to treat non-small cell lung cancer.