A flurry of pharmaceutical acquisitions sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher open with the Dow jumping 257 points to 17,970. Nasdaq surged 45 points to 4,936.
On the upside
United Health Group will acquire pharmacy benefits manager Catamaran (Nasdaq: CTRX) in a deal valued at approximately $12.8 billion.
Auspex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ASPX) agreed to be acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TEVA) in a transaction valued at approximately $3.5 billion.
Horizon (Nasdaq: HZNP) will pay a premium of approximately $1.1 billion in cash to buy Hyperion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HPTX).
On the downside
BioDelivery Sciences International (Nasdaq: BDSI) reported disappointing results from a Phase 3 study of Clonidine Topical Gel to treat painful diabetic neuropathy.
Abbott Laboratories will sell 35 million common shares of Mylan (Nasdaq: MYL) that it holds.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) from an Overweight rating to an Equal Weight rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 surged 21 points to 2082. Bitcoin added $2 to $242.
Pharmaceutical acquisitions boost markets
March 30, 2015 at 10:42 AM EDT
