Dallas, Texas 11/11/2013 (Financialstrend) – The $1.04 billion market capped bio tech firm Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) released its 3Q results on November 8. The highlight of the earnings call was the announcement by Jack Lief who is a co founder of the drug firm and also serves as its chairman, chief executive officer and president about the continued synergies being enjoyed by the firm with its association with drug manufacturer Eisai. He has been quoted as saying, “Our marketing and supply agreement for BELIVIQ, with Eisai has now been expanded to include most countries worldwide. We’re confident in Eisai’s commitment to the long-term success of BELVIQ. Under the terms of this agreement, we’ll receive from Eisai an upfront payment of $60 million and in addition we’re eligible to receive up to a total of $176.5 million in regulatory and development milestone payment. We are also eligible to receive a total of $1.56 billion in one-time purchase price adjustment payments based on sales in the territories covered by the agreement.” The firm plans to continue to manufacture the flag ship drug in its Switzerland facility while the marketing and sales will be taken care of by its partner firm.
On the back of the news that the marketing deal has been expanded with its partner, the stock of Aerna zoomed past its past month high valuation to post a 17.4% increase in value during trading on November 8. The shares of the stock were trading at $4.79. In spite of the strong rally the stock is still perceived to be a slow earner with accumulated losses of $15 million in the past 12 months and a 36% dip in the over all market value in comparison to same time last year.
In order to reduce its dependency on one drug, the firm is also working on increasing its product pipeline by new drug APD811