Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]), the San Diego-based developer of a new obesity drug, said today that the FDA has notified the company of tentative plans for an advisory committee meeting to discuss its treatment on September 16. Arena first sought clearance from the FDA to start selling lorcaserin in the U.S. in December, and the agency has set a deadline of October 22 to complete its review. The FDA usually follows the advice of its advisory panels, although it isn’t required to do so.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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