Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]), the San Diego-based developer of an experimental obesity drug, said today it has raised $35.5 million through an equity financing from Deerfield Management. Arena agreed to sell 11 million shares to Deerfield at $3.23 apiece, the equivalent of yesterday’s closing stock price. Arena is getting ready for an important meeting of an FDA advisory panel, which on Sept. 16 will recommend whether or not the obesity treatment, lorcaserin, should be sold in the U.S. The FDA’s deadline to make the decision is Oct. 22.
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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