Posts Tagged ‘strategic partnerships’

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Shares of drug maker Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) surged 20 percent from Wednesday’s close, in morning trading on Thursday after it was announced that Japanese drug maker, Eisai, Inc. will market Arena’s obesity treatment lorcaserin in the U.S.

“Execution of this commercial agreement is a major milestone in our plans for lorcaserin,” said Jack Lief, Arena’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe in Eisai’s human health care mission to satisfy unmet medical needs and increase benefits to patients and their families.”

Here are a few highlights from the deal:

  • $50 million initial upfront (kind of small when considering the potential of the drug)
  • $90 million upon FDA Approval (PDUFA October 22nd) bringing upfront for US marketing rights to $140 million
  • $1.16B in one-time purchase price adjustments after certain sales goals.
  • 31.5-36.5% of annual Lorcaserin sales
  • [–quote–]
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is already reviewing lorcaserin, and an decision is expected on Oct. 22. The main concern with lorcaserin is that patients treated with the drug in two pivotal phase III studies didn’t lose much weight — a little more than 3% on a placebo adjusted basis. The biggest plus in lorcaserin’s corner is the drug’s safety and tolerability, which appear better than competing drugs.

    “With Eisai, we have the right company to market lorcaserin in the United States, the right type of agreement to optimize lorcaserin’s medical and commercial potential and the shared recognition that it is the right time to enter into this agreement to prepare for launch following FDA approval,” Lief said.

    Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NBIX) – Buzz Stock of the Day

    Thursday, June 17th, 2010

    We first covered Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX) in late May 2010, when the stock was trading at $3.40 a share. About a week after our post, shares of NBIX climbed to a high of $5.20 a share. Neurocrine rallied again on Thursday, climbing almost 8 percent to a 52-week high of $5.79 a share in morning trading after the company announced a development deal with privately held German drug maker, Boehringer Ingelheim.

    [–quote–]

    The two companies will work together to research and develop small molecule GPR119 agonists for the treatment of Type II diabetes and other indications . Neurocrine will get a $10 million upfront payment and research funding to support discovery efforts. The company is also eligible to receive up to $225 million in milestone payments, according to Neurocrine.

    A day before, Neurocrine licensed the worldwide rights to its experimental endometriosis drug to Abbott Laboratories. Under terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Abbott gains worldwide rights to elagolix in exchange for a $50 million upfront payment to Neurocrine. Abbott agreed to pay all future development costs for the drug. Neurocrine is eligible for up to $500 million in future milestone payments as well as royalties based on sales of elagolix if approved.