Monday's Health Winners & Losers

Biotech pair-ups and earnings bolstered a few health stocks on an otherwise ho-hum Monday for the sector.

Arrow International(ARRO Quote), which makes various disposable catheters, heart assist devices and related products for critical and cardiac care applications, climbed Monday after Teleflex(TFX Quote) said it would pay $45.50 a share for Arrow, a 20% premium over the stock's closing price heading into the weekend.

Arrow gained $6.40, or 17%, to $44.19, while Teleflex lost 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.15.

Another tie-up: ev3(EVVV Quote) will acquire FoxHollow Technologies(FOXH Quote) in a $780 million deal under which FoxHollow stockholders will receive 1.45 shares of ev3 common stock in addition to $2.75 in cash for each share. Ev3 gained $1.54, or 9.6%, to $17.52, while FoxHollow added $2.63, or 10.6%, to $27.35.

Specialty pharmaceutical company DepoMed(DEPO Quote) and Watson Pharmaceuticals(WPI Quote) said Monday that they entered an agreement to co-promote ProQuin XR, the extended-release formulation of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

According to the agreement, DepoMed will book top-line revenue and Watson will receive a portion of the profits. The companies plan to relaunch the drug in the U.S. urology market by the end of the year. DepoMed, which will retain manufacturing and distribution rights, increased 16 cents, or 6.8%, to $2.50, while Watson added 48 cents, or 1.5%, to $33.17.

On the earnings side, Merck(MRK Quote) gained ground after reporting quarterly results and increasing its guidance. For the three months ended June 30, Merck earned 82 cents a share, excluding one-time charges, beating the consensus by 10 cents. The stock surged $4.10, or 8.3%, to $53.11.

Merck is a component of the Amex pharmaceutical index, which was up 4.49, or 1.3%, to 354.85.

Schering-Plough(SGP Quote) also reported its quarterly earnings, which were boosted by strong sales. The company reported earning 41 cents a share, excluding items, or 34 cents a share when all things were factored in. The Thomson Financial Consensus target was 35 cents a share. Even so, Schering-Plough's stock was down 8 cents, or 0.3%, to $31.40.