Big pharma stocks close near all-time highs as tech selloff pushes investors toward safer bets

By Jaimy Lee

Shares of AbbVie, Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences closed near record highs

AbbVie's stock hit a record high this week.

Biopharma stocks like AbbVie and Eli Lilly closed near their all-time highs, in the latest signal that investors are seeking out the steady gains that come with large, diversified drugmakers.

These companies are doing what they do best, investing in the pipelines of the future and extending the patent lives of their top-selling drugs. Against the turbulence in tech stocks in recent months, that kind of solid, known performance appeals to investors.

The State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR Exchange-Traded Fund XLV, which is heavily weighted by Lilly and AbbVie, reached an all-time high of $177.19 on Thursday, gaining 5.6% over the past five days. On Thursday, investors also turned to consumer staples and government bonds amid a selloff of AI-related stocks over concerns about AI expenditures and Anthropic's cooling revenue growth.

Investors view Lilly, a favorite for its dominance in the GLP-1 market, as one of the industry's greatest success stories. There's no one clinical-trial readout or deal that fueled its rally this week, but its stock tends to rise alongside AI blowback and major industry moments, like Moderna and Merck announcing in August that their experimental therapeutic cancer vaccine met the primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial.

Even after the runaway success of its GLP-1 franchise, the company remains laser-focused on its future. It's made 40 deals worth $20 billion so far this year, according to remarks recently made by CEO Dave Ricks, and it has two new weight-loss drugs nearing regulatory review. Lilly's stock (LLY) closed 3.6% higher Thursday afternoon, hitting its third-highest price.

AbbVie's shares (ABBV) closed at their second-highest price of $284.40 on Thursday, one day after closing at a record high of $283.48, likely driven by additional data for a subcutaneous form of Skyrizi that could drive "meaningful" sales growth of the company's top-selling drug, according to recent remarks made by an AbbVie executive. The new form of the drug allows it to be delivered at home, compared to receiving an injection at a clinic.

The therapy, which brought in $17.6 billion last year, is widely prescribed for patients with autoimmune disorders like inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease.

The data showed that taking a subcutaneous form of the drug for 24 weeks worked in patients with Crohn's, making the case for a Food and Drug Administration approval and likely extension of the drug's patent. Developing subcutaneous versions of injectable drugs is an area of focus for biopharma companies seeking to extend the patents for their top-selling medicines.

Other biopharma stocks are also on the upswing this week. Over the past five days, shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Amgen (AMGN) are up 7.7% and 7.0%, respectively, even though neither company has issued a press release in the U.S. this month. Merck's stock (MRK) has rallied 2.3% this week, and UnitedHealth Group's stock (UNH) gained 9.1% after its solid third-quarter results reassured investors about the direction of its business.

That said, there are signs of stress in the high-risk, high-reward biotech sector. After a long-awaited recovery that arrived earlier this year, the State Street SPDR S&P Biotech Exchange-traded Fund XBI is down 2.8% over the past month. The sector's success is often intertwined with interest rates and access to capital.

-Jaimy Lee

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10-15-26 1629ET