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Health care stocks were lower in late afternoon trade with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index sliding 0.4% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 down by more than 0.5% as a group.

In company news, Organovo Holdings ( ONVO ) shares were falling shortly before the closing bell after the biotech company working to develop "artificial" organs using human tissues late yesterday disclosed a controlled equity offering agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald for up to $33 million of ONVO shares.

The company will pay Cantor a 3% commission on the gross proceeds from the upcoming stock sales. It plans to use net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including reseach, development and commercialization of its products and general administrative expenses as well as potential license and technology acquisitions.

At Tuesday's closing price of $7.66 a share, ONVO would issue nearly 4.31 million new shares, diluting existing shareholders by around 5.3%.

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Health Care Sector Update for 12/31/2014: ONVO,NRX,RDHL,ACHI