Wednesday's Health Winners & Losers

Health stocks were stagnant midweek with little news to energize investors.

A few big biotechs were higher. Amgen(AMGN) gained 1.7% to $41.54 as investors prepare for a judge's decision regarding Roche's ability to market Mircera for chronic kidney disease. The drug could potentially compete with Amgen's Aranesp and Epogen in the U.S. pending the ruling.

Bear Stearns analyst Mark Schoenebaum said in a Wednesday note that he believes Amgen now reflects expectations that Mircera will launch. He believes the worst-case scenario could have Amgen's stock seeing 10% upside, while if Mircera doesn't launch the upside for Amgen could exceed 20%.

Elsewhere, Amgen's fellow big biotechs Genentech(DNA) and Biogen Idec(BIIB) were up 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively, to $82.09 and $62.60.

The stocks did little for the Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology indices, which were essentially flat. The Nasdaq index slipped 0.4% to 774.83, while the Amex index edged up 0.1% to 728.41.

PDL BioPharma(PDLI) helped lift both indices, rising 4.1% to $10.74 on no news.

Elsewhere, medical-device makers Boston Scientific(BSX), Medtronic(MDT) and Abbott Laboratories(ABT) fell slightly after the Food and Drug Administration posted draft guidelines for companies seeking future approval of cardiac stents, or tiny devices that are used to prop open clogged arteries.

The guidelines suggest the agency will require longer-term data from companies seeking approval of the devices in the future, such as Xtent(XTNT).

Boston Scientific shares were down 1.7% at $12.74, Medtronic fell 0.7% to $48.20 and Abbott gave up 0.9%, to 54.03. Xtent shed 3.2% to $5.

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