Arena Pharma (ARNA) to be acquired by Pfizer (PFE) for $100/share or $6.7B

• Pfizer has agreed to buy U.S. biotech company Arena Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at about $6.7 billion.
• The U.S. pharma giant said the acquisition would expand its cancer and inflammatory disease drug pipeline.

** ARNA **

 

 

 

Analysts: Pfizer to 'capitalize' on experimental colitis treatment in Arena deal 

 "We view PFE as a logical partner for ARNA as the latter continues to progress its gastroenterology, dermatology, and cardiology focused platform, which should benefit from the executional expertise of a large pharmaceutical company," SVB Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz told analysts in a research note. "PFE's commercial framework can capitalize on etrasimod's best-in-class potential," wrote RBC Capital Markets' Kennen MacKay. The one thing that surprised Wall Street was Pfizer's decision to execute a deal before the upcoming readout of Phase 3 clinical trial data for Arena's etrasimod, an experimental ulcerative colitis treatment. That data is expected early next year. Pfizer's stock has gained 43.4% so far this year, while Arena's shares are down 35.0%.