Health care stocks were advancing pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) 0.1% higher and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) up 0.6%.

Nuvation Bio (NUVB) shares were up more than 4% after the company said it has amended its license agreement with Daiichi Sankyo to include Japan rights for safusidenib, giving the company exclusive global development and commercialization control.

Ocugen (OCGN) stock was up more than 1% after the company said it completed patient enrollment and dosing for a phase 2/3 trial of OCU410ST in all Stargardt disease indications in less than nine months, earlier than scheduled.

GSK (GSK) and Japan's Shionogi said the latter has completed its acquisition of 11.7% stake in ViiV Healthcare from Pfizer (PFE) for about $2.13 billion. GSK shares were 0.9% higher premarket.