Sector Update: Healthcare Stocks Softer Monday Afternoon

02:11 PM EDT, 10/26/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Healthcare stocks were lower Monday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index down 0.1% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) easing 0.3%. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) added 0.1%. In corporate news, Surgery Partners (SGRY) has agreed to be acquired by HealthSpan Partners in an all-cash deal valued at an enterprise value of about $5.7 billion, the companies said Monday. Surgery Partners shares surged 47%. Pfizer's (PFE) talazoparib, or Talzenna, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in combination with enzalutamide to treat adults with metastatic androgen pathway modulation-naive or -sensitive prostate cancer with homologous recombination repair gene mutations, as detected by an authorized test, the agency said Monday. Pfizer shares were down 0.8%. Xencor (XNCR) shares jumped past 19% after the company said its experimental cancer drug XmAb819 showed a 45.5% confirmed objective response rate in a phase 1 trial of people with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma.