Monday Market Movers (WLP, MELA, QCOR)

Wellpoint WLP: Wellpoint announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Amerigroup AGP. Under the agreement, Wellpoint plans to pay $92 per share in cash to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Amerigroup, for a total of $4.9 billion. Amerigroup is a healthcare company that focuses on providing healthcare to financially vulnerable families. Wellpoint traded up about 3% on Monday. Angela F. Braly, Chairman, President and CEO of WellPoint, remarked, "We believe that this combination will create an industry leader in the government sector serving Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. This is an opportunity to capitalize on the strengths of both companies to better serve our members and position our companies for future growth as the health insurance industry changes and as we prepare for health insurance exchanges.” MELA Sciences MELA: MELA Sciences traded up about 10% on Monday after announcing positive results of its study on MelaFind with German dermatologists. MelaFind is a medical device used to detect melanoma at its earliest curable stage. Dr. Arthur Sober, Professor of Dermatology and Director of Cutaneous Melanoma Program, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, stated, "The most clinically significant finding is that only 3 dermatologists in Arm 1 (those not provided with the MelaFind information) detected 90% of the melanomas on the study, compared to 22 dermatologists in Arm 2 who incorporated the MelaFind data in their decision-making process, a difference that was highly statistically significant at p < 0.00006.” Questcor QCOR: Questcor shares traded up about 15% on Monday after the company reported June sales. The company has one primary drug called Acthar, which is used to treat Nephrotic Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis relapse. Year-to-date, Questcor is trading up about 27%.