09:19 AM EDT, 10/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Health care stocks were advancing premarket Friday, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLV ) and iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) up 0.3%.

Mesoblast (MESO) shares were up more than 8% after the company said the US Medicare & Medicaid Services has assigned a J-Code to graft-versus-host disease treatment Ryoncil. The permanent J-Code, J3402, facilitates reimbursement and broader patient access for the drug, Mesoblast said.

Ovid Therapeutics ( OVID ) shares were up more than 26% after the company said topline data from a phase 1 study of OV329 showed that the drug candidate achieved "statistically significant" inhibition of GABA-aminotransferase across multiple metrics.

Cidara Therapeutics ( CDTX ) stock was up more than 1% after the company said late Thursday that it received an award worth up to $339 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority under the US Department of Health and Human Services for clinical development and manufacturing expansion of its CD388 influenza preventative therapeutic.