Pfizer to Buy Arena Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 Billion

Pfizer has announced that it will buy Park City, Utah-based Arena Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion, pumping up its portfolio of therapies for immuno-inflammatory diseases.

Arena’s main asset is etrasimod, an oral selective sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator currently in development as a therapy for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Pfizer now plans to accelerate the clinical development of etrasimod, said Mike Gladstone, global president and general manager of Pfizer Inflammation and Immunology.

Arena’s etrasimod program comprises multiple trials, including two phase 3 studies in ulcerative colitis, a phase 2/3 program in Crohn’s Disease, a planned phase 3 program in atopic dermatitis and ongoing phase 2 studies in eosinophilic esophagitis and alopecia areata.