Dj Vaxart Files 8K - Listing Notice >Vxrt

Health care stocks were declining late Friday afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Index down 0.7% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) shedding 0.5%.

The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) fell 0.9%.

In corporate news, Vaxart shares surged 20% after it said Friday it secured a $4.6 million increase in funding under a project agreement supported by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, raising the estimated ceiling for a mid-stage trial of its oral pill COVID-19 vaccine candidate to about $460.7 million.

Novartis must face certain claims alleging it provided kickbacks to physicians for prescribing Gilenya, its drug that treats multiple sclerosis, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Friday. Novartis shares shed 0.1%.

UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys agreed to extend the deadline of their planned merger as the deal faces scrutiny from the US Department of Justice over competition concerns. UnitedHealth shares were down 0.3% while Amedisys shares jumped 4.6%.

BioNTech shares were rising 0.2%. The company announced Friday separate agreements with the US National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania to settle royalty claims related to sales of its COVID-19 vaccine co-developed with Pfizer (PFE).

Vaxart said on Friday it secured a $4.6 million increase in funding under a project agreement supported by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, raising the estimated ceiling for a mid-stage trial of its oral pill COVID-19 vaccine candidate to about $460.7 million.

Vaxart shares recently were more than 18% higher, maintaining their perch near an intra-day high of $0.72 per share. More than 4 million shares have changed hands during Friday trade compared with a daily average of about 1.3 million shares.

Grid Dynamics Holdings will replace Revelyst in the S&P SmallCap 600 index on Jan. 2, S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Thursday.

Shares of the technology consulting firm recently were ahead 9.3%, easing from a nearly 15% mid-morning advance to a new 52-week high of $24.16 a share. Trading volume also was running well ahead of its daily average of 576,000 shares, with investors already exchanging more than 1.7 million Grid Dynamics shares this afternoon.

UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys extended the deadline for completing their $3.3 billion merger agreement to the earlier of Dec. 31, 2025, or 10 days after a final decision in the Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block the deal, the companies disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Amedisys shares recently were climbing about 4.6% to $89.93 each, staying within close range of their intra-day high of $90 per share. Trading volume also was stronger than usual, with nearly 1.2 million shares changing hands by midday compared with a daily average of about 545,000 shares.

Vaxart said an agreement with Advanced Technology International on a COVID-19 vaccine candidate study was amended with an increase of $4.6 million in the total estimated ceiling for funding to $460.7 million.

The project agreement in June covered funding for a comparative study to evaluate the company's oral pill XBB COVID-19 vaccine candidate against an mRNA vaccine comparator approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, Vaxart said Friday in a regulatory filing.

The amendment boosted the funding allotted to the phase 2b trial by $37.7 million to $134.2 million available for payment, Vaxart said.

Advanced Technology International is a consortium management firm funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and

Development Authority.