Replies to post #22631 on Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA)

[operating_line]

Was there any rumour to drive it up suddenly? Anything related to the latest conference transcript?

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4225252-arena-pharmaceuticals-inc-arna-ceo-amit-munshi-evercore-isi-healthconx-conference-transcript?page=4

1. "So we're still relatively light. We're just under 200 people inside the company."
small workforce. there was no discussion of returning to larger numbers of staff for the pipeline. The CEO made a point to show the portfolio is balanced across phases of development and therapeutic areas to appeal to a wide range of BP buyers.

2. "If this is a molecule developed at Merck or if it's a molecule developed in house at Janssen this would not be a normal question, right?"

There was a comparison to big pharma such Merck and Janssen, namely for ARNA to be treated similarly in terms of the lines of enquiry on the molecule. This is a clear message as to the quality of the molecules being developed. This is the company that delivered a safe weight loss medicine, Belviq, to Eisai which sets a precedent for future best in class therapies (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-weight-loss-drug-belviq-safe-heart.html). Obviously, United put the money on the table for PAH treatment (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arena-pharmaceuticals-and-united-therapeutics-announce-global-license-agreement-for-ralinepag-300751003.html). AbbVie is presenting at the same conference. This BP and several others should have the financial means for a double digit billion dollar acquisition.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/29/3-drugmakers-with-boatloads-of-cash-to-spend.aspx

Overall, the level is still flat for the past year with the lows drifting up slightly. This could be about to change with the move to Boston and as the days of the Belviq commercial failure due to the now completed 5 year post-approval study are now a thing of the past.