03:50 PM EDT, 10/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Health care stocks rose late Friday afternoon with the NYSE Health Care Index climbing 0.2% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) adding 0.7%.

The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) advanced 0.6%.

In corporate news, STAAR Surgical ( STAA ) investor Broadwood Partners urged the company's board to hold the shareholder vote on Alcon's (ALC) proposed acquisition "without further delay or drama." STAAR Surgical ( STAA ) shares rose 2.2%.

AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) Saphnelo received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, recommending approval of a new self-administered, once-weekly subcutaneous formulation for systemic lupus erythematosus. The stock rose 1%.

Disc Medicine ( IRON ) shares jumped 21% after the company received a Commissioner's National Priority Voucher from the US Food and Drug Administration, designed to expedite the review process for its drug candidate bitopertin.

President Donald Trump said the price of Novo Nordisk's ( NVO ) Ozempic will be "much lower" once his administration finalizes negotiations with the pharmaceutical company. Novo shares fell 3.2%.