Health Care Stock Winners and Losers: Merck

Health care stocks were ailing Thursday afternoon despite a rally in the broader market.

With the exception of Eli Lilly(LLY Quote), which was up about 1 % to $32.68, and Procter & Gamble(PG Quote), which was inching up 0.4% to $48.67, widely held health care stocks were losing, while the Dow climbed 2.4% and the Nasdaq rose 3%.

Merck(MRK Quote) and Cardiome Pharma(CRME Quote) announced a partnership to develop a drug for atrial fibrillation, a deal that could result in Merck paying Cardiome more than $600 million. Merck shares were recently falling 1.2% to $26.44

Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote), which announced that the CYPHER stent outperformed the ENDEAVOR and TAXUS stents in a trial involving ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization and stent thrombosis, was down 0.1% to $51.39.

GlaxoSmithKline(GSK Quote) was losing 1.6% to $29.58.

Pfizer(PFE Quote) was down 0.4% to $13.43.

Novo Nordisk(NVO Quote) was down 0.5% to $43.77.