09:11 AM EDT, 08/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Health care stocks were flat to higher premarket Friday with the Shares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) inactive and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLV ) recently up 0.3%.

Emergent Biosolutions ( EBS ) shares rose nearly 18% after it said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its supplemental application for ACAM2000, single-dose vaccine for smallpox and mpox.

NuCana ( NCNA ) shares tumbled by nearly 50% after it said it will discontinue phase 2 testing of its NUC-3373 drug candidate for the potential colorectal cancer treatment after determining that a combination of NUC-3373 with three different chemotherapies would unlikely meet the primary endpoint of superior progression-free survival compared with a control arm.

Ekso Bionics Holdings ( EKSO ) shares fell by over 13% after it priced a public offering of 6 million units and pre-funded units at $1 and $0.999, respectively, for gross proceeds of about $6 million.