Sector Update: Healthcare Stocks Gain Late Afternoon

03:53 PM EDT, 10/20/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Healthcare stocks rose late Tuesday afternoon with the NYSE Healthcare Index gaining 2.2% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) advancing 2.3%. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) jumped 3.1%. In corporate news, Amgen (AMGN) and AstraZeneca (AZN) said Tezspire showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful" improvements in people with symptomatic and uncontrolled eosinophilic esophagitis, according to results from a phase 3 trial. Amgen shares rose 2.9%, and AstraZeneca climbed 3%. Qiagen (QGEN) is in advanced talks to be acquired by EQT AB and has received a binding offer of over $50 a share from the Swedish buyout firm, Bloomberg reported. KKR (KKR) also made a bid, the report said. Qiagen shares jumped 5.3%. Labcorp (LH) agreed to buy Myriad Genetics' (MYGN) prenatal health testing business for $210 million in cash, plus inventory value at closing. Labcorp shares rose 1%, and Myriad surged 33%. GeneDx Holdings (WGS) shares gained 3.9% after the company said it plans to add long-read whole genome sequencing to its testing portfolio to help close diagnostic gaps and speed diagnoses