09:19 AM EDT, 10/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Health care stocks were advancing premarket Monday as the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLV ) was up 0.1% and the iShares Biotechnology ETF ( IBB ) was slightly higher recently.

Longboard Pharmaceuticals ( LBPH ) shares surged past 51% after the company and H. Lundbeck announced an agreement for Lundbeck to acquire Longboard in a transaction with $2.6 billion in equity value.

TPG (TPG) and Blackstone (BX) have teamed up on a joint bid for eye care firm Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ) , The Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Separately, Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ) said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its EnVista Envy vision intraocular lenses. Shares of Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ) were up past 10% premarket.

Jasper Therapeutics ( JSPR ) shares were more than 4% higher after the company said preliminary data from its phase 1b/2a study of briquilimab indicated that 93% of the adult participants with cold urticaria or symptomatic dermographism in both dose groups showed a clinical response to the treatment within six weeks.