Pfizer Completes $6.7 Billion Acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals to Expand Immunology Pipeline

Author: Sunshine

On March 11, Pfizer announced that it had completed the acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals. The deal was an all-cash transaction at $100 per share for all outstanding shares of Arena, with a total value of approximately $6.7 billion. Meanwhile, Arena’s common stock will be delisted from the NASDAQ Global Select Market around March 11, 2022.

Arena Pharmaceuticals' pipeline products mainly focus on areas such as gastrointestinal diseases, skin diseases, and heart disease. Among them, there is an oral selective sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator, etrasimod, used to treat a series of immune-inflammatory diseases, including gastrointestinal and skin conditions.

Currently, etrasimod is undergoing two Phase III studies for ulcerative colitis, a Phase II/III study for Crohn's disease, a Phase III study for atopic dermatitis, and Phase II studies for eosinophilic esophagitis and alopecia areata. Arena previously stated that it expects to release the results of the Phase III ELEVATE-UC trial of etrasimod for the treatment of ulcerative colitis in the first quarter of 2022.

It is worth mentioning that on December 5, 2017, Everest Medicines obtained the exclusive development and commercialization rights for etrasimod and ralinepag in Greater China from Arena Pharmaceuticals, with an upfront payment of $12 million and milestone payments of $212 million.

Arena Pharmaceuticals' pipeline also includes two cardiovascular drugs in Phase II: temanogrel and APD418. Temanogrel is being developed for the treatment of secondary microvascular obstruction and Raynaud's syndrome in systemic sclerosis, while APD418 is being developed for the treatment of acute heart failure.

Pfizer's total revenue in 2021 was $81.288 billion, of which the sales of the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty were $36.78 billion. The revenue guidance for 2022 is set at $98-102 billion. For Pfizer, acquiring Arena for $6.7 billion is quite effortless.