Why Novartis Stock Topped the Market Today

Although it's never guaranteed that regulatory approval of a new drug will juice the share price of its developer, this often happens in the pharmaceutical field. Sure enough, after receiving regulatory approval for one of its medications, Novartis (NYSE: NVS) saw a nearly 3% increase in its share price. This easily surpassed the S&P 500 index's gain of 0.9% that trading session. Novartis announced late Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its Itvisma for certain forms of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The healthcare company didn't hesitate to mention that this makes the drug the first and only gene replacement therapy for the affliction. The approval covered patients two years and older. Image source: Getty Images.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool