Wednesday's Health Winners & Losers

Drug developer Pozen (POZN Quote - Cramer on POZN - Stock Picks) jumped after the company announced an exclusive agreement with pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZN Quote - Cramer on AZN - Stock Picks) to codevelop and comarket a new arthritis drug.

AstraZeneca will pay Pozen an upfront fee of $40 million. Pozen could get milestone payments of $160 million for developmental and regulatory achievements and $175 million for reaching sales targets.

The drug, which contains the pain reliever naproxen and the stomach drug esomeprazole magnesium, is being tested to treat patients at risk for gastric ulcers associated with the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like naproxen. Pozen's shares gained 33.9% to $10.03.

Shares of spinal-device maker NuVasive(NUVA Quote - Cramer on NUVA - Stock Picks) were up 9.2% to $18.82 after the stock was upgraded by Lehman Brothers. Lehman lifted its rating on the stock to overweight from equal-weight.

Genomic Health(GHDX Quote - Cramer on GHDX - Stock Picks) rose a day after a quarterly report in which it said its second-quarter loss narrowed from last year.

The company lost 20 cents a share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $4.07 a year ago. Analysts were expecting a loss of 33 cents a share. Revenue was $8.4 million in the quarter, compared with $1.2 million a year ago. Shares of Genomic Health were up 14.7% to $12.46.

Among health stocks taking a hit were SGX Pharmaceuticals(SGXP Quote - Cramer on SGXP - Stock Picks), down 7.2% to $4.75, and Prana Biotechnology(PRAN Quote - Cramer on PRAN - Stock Picks), whose shares sank 6.2% to $2.42.

Stocks moving higher included medical-device makers Boston Scientific(BSX Quote - Cramer on BSX - Stock Picks), up 2.9% to $17.76, St. Jude Medical(STJ Quote - Cramer on STJ - Stock Picks), higher by 3.5% to $38.69, Medtronic(MDT Quote - Cramer on MDT - Stock Picks), a 2% gainer to $51.50, Biogen Idec(BIIB Quote - Cramer on BIIB - Stock Picks), up 3.9% to $42.64 and health care provider Health Net(HNT Quote - Cramer on HNT - Stock Picks) up 5.4% to $44.73.