Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Updated from 2:02 p.m. EDT

Takeover talk bolstered Bradley Pharmaceuticals(BDY Quote), but health-care stocks were flat headed into the weekend.

Bradley rose $1.33, or 7.2%, to close at $19.87, after announcing Friday that it received an unspecified number of preliminary bids for the sale of the company. The company previously announced that it had hired Deutsche Bank as an advisor to help consider strategic alternatives.

Also up,Teva Pharmaceuticals(TEVA Quote) said that the FDA granted the company approval of its abbreviated new drug application to market the generic version of Novartis'(NVS Quote) Famvir treatment for genital herpes. Teva has been awarded a 180-day period of marketing exclusivity. Branded Famvir had annual sales of about $200 million in the U.S. for the 12 months ended June 30, according to the company.

Teva closed up 91 cents, or 2.2%, to $41.76. Novartis closed up 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $52.74. Teva is a component of the Amex Pharmaceutical Index, which was up 2.91 points, or 0.9%, to 339.03 on Friday.

Elsewhere, ImClone Systems(IMCL Quote) said it opened enrollment for a phase II study on its candidate for advanced kidney cancer. It expects to enroll 36 patients whose disease has progressed during standard therapy or who have developed intolerance to those treatments. The study will evaluate the safety, efficacy and pharmacology of the drug.

However, the enrollment didn't help ImClone, which closed down 4 cents, or 0.1%, to $32.17.