Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (OREX) stock price balloons for diet pill maker

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: OREX) shares jumped 17.7% to $3.33 Wednesday, after the diet-pill developer said it would make a regulatory announcement about its obesity treatment in two days. Volume for the stock was 8.2 million shares, or more than six times its daily average.

The San Diego-based Orexigen has announced a regulatory update on Friday, June 3, before the markets open. The announcement will be followed by a live webcast and conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time. No one from Orexigen management was immediately available for comment.

The company’s lead product, Contrave®, has completed Phase 3 clinical trials and has received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for its New Drug Application. The Company is in the process of determining the next steps for Contrave.

The Company’s second product, Empatic™, has completed Phase 2 clinical development. Each product candidate is designed to act on a specific group of neurons in the central nervous system with the goal of achieving appetite suppression and sustained weight loss, through combination therapeutic approaches.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 3:51 pm by Glenn and is filed under Health Care Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.