Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA), Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RIGL): This Week in Biotech

Finally, clinical-stage cancer drug developer AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVEO) certainly shook things up this week by announcing it will be laying off 140 employees or 62% of its staff to cut its expenses and extend its existing cash balance for another two years. Furthermore, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVEO) outlined its plan to focus on developing its lead cancer drug, Tivozanib, for breast and colorectal cancer, but not for renal cell carcinoma. Management noted that it doesn’t believe the FDA would approve Tivozanib for RCC without the need for additional testing that it isn’t prepared to do right now, with Astellas Pharma having backed out of their development partnership.

The article This Week in Biotech originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

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