doctorThe healthcare sector moved up 1.29% yesterday, July 2, 2008, when all of the other main industries went down. S&P500 index fell 1.58% during the day.

The healthcare sector had its own gainers to fuel the rise of course. As expected - companies that rose the most during the day were penny stocks. Let's take a look at the three stocks that advanced the most.

Maxygen, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAXY) had its stock open at a 28% premium to its previous closing price of $3.51. The run-up was fueled by a news announcement made after trading hours on July 1.

Maxygen announced they have entered into an agreement with Bayer Healthcare for the acquisition of Maxygen's hemophilia program and all related assets. The company will also transfer to Bayer all the development progress of its recombinant Factor VIIa protein known as MAXY-VII. The cost of this transaction is estimated at $90 million.

Another mover - Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMU) had no apparent reason for a rally. Still their stock opened 5.5% higher than previous close and continued on the steady uptrend to close at $2.47, gaining another 8.3% over the day.

The stock appears rather volatile with no clear long term trend. This means trading on this random spike up could be quite risky. The company has virtually no fundamental base that could support the share price increase. Their cash reserves are decreasing with each quarter. Further, Immunomedics hasn't been profitable for the last five years.

Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: JAV) moved up 8.3% over July 2. The main cause for this was release of new research report on the company by companiesandmarkets.com.

The expensive report can surely give significant insights on the company, however it cannot turn a poorly performing company into a good one. Although some progress can be seen in the company's income statement, they still have a lot work to do before even entering production stage. Until that happens this is probably not the best choice in which to invest any of your money.

Javelin's stock dropped to its previous price of $2.40 shortly after the market opened on July 3, 2008.