Thursday's Health Winners & Losers

Shares of Endologix(ELGX Quote) were among the best-performing health-related stocks Thursday, climbing 11% after the medical device company said it plans to sell about 6.1 million shares of stock at $3.30 apiece as part of a direct equity placement.

"The financing enables us to fully execute our national expansion strategy and to achieve our goal of increasing our sales force to 40 to 50 representatives by year end," Endologix said. "Importantly, we believe we now have sufficient capital resources to operate our business to cash flow positive operations." The company projects gross proceeds of about $20 million from the offering, which is expected to close on June 2. Shares were trading up 39 cents to $4.

Alpharma(ALO Quote) rose modestly after the drugmaker named Dean Mitchell as its new chief executive, effective July 1. Mitchell will replace Ingrid Wiik, who previously announced her plans to leave once the company named a new CEO. Mitchell most recently served as CEO of Guilford Pharmaceuticals. Alpharma shares were up 4 cents to $23.46.

Shares of Schering-Plough(SGP Quote) rose 4% after the drugmaker announced plans to slash some 1,100 jobs at plants in Puerto Rico and New Jersey. The job cuts represent about 3% of the company's entire workforce. "The actions we are announcing today are another step in our Action Agenda to transform this company into a high-performance competitor for the long term," the company said. The job cuts, which will mostly take place in 2006, will affect 600 workers in Puerto Rico and about 500 employees in New Jersey. In all, the company expects the cuts to result in expenses of $235 million to $260 million, with about $130 million of the costs being recognized during the second quarter. Schering-Plough expects the reduction to ultimately generate savings of about $100 million beginning in 2007. Shares were trading up 67 cents to $19.73.