Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA): U.S. Approved Obesity Drug Derailed in EU

Ironically Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX)‘s Contrave, which hasn’t even been approved in the U.S., might be first to market in the EU. It’s running a large cardiovascular-outcomes study, which should provide a lot of data that hopefully gives regulators confidence that the drug is safe.

Back home, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) and Eisai are still waiting for the Drug Enforcement Agency to issue its final scheduling for Belviq. The scheduling determines how regulated the distribution of the drug should be based on its potential for abuse. The scheduling is taking an usually long time, but Arena wasn’t willing to elaborate further, since Eisai is the one that has contact with the DEA.

Arena has a couple of other drugs in phase 1 development, which should read out later this year. They’re worth keeping your eyes on, but news about Belviq will dominate the stock price for the foreseeable future.

Here’s hoping the second-quarter earnings has sales figures in it!

The article U.S.-Approved Obesity Drug Derailed in EU originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Brian Orelli.

Fool contributor Brian Orelli and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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