Arena Pharma (ARNA) KOL Call and Data Are Encouraging - Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse analyst Martin Auster reiterated an Outperform rating and $98.00 price target on Arena Pharma (NASDAQ: ARNA) after the company sponsored a KOL call to discuss etrasimod’s potential opportunity in dermatologic indications such as atopic dermatitis (AD) and alopecia areata (AA).

The analyst believes "etrasimod’s upstream mechanism of action (MOA) as an S1P receptor modulator may provide inherent advantages over other therapies, such as biologics or JAKs, with lower levels of circulating effector lymphocytes and decreased cytokine production. This approach may affect multiple disease pathways that may otherwise not be affected by more targeted therapies, and also avoids broad downstream signaling (as seen with JAKs) that can result in widespread immunosuppression and an unfavorable safety profile. Management also provided additional color on its Ph2 Advise data, with emphasis on the emerging profile in the OLE study that the company believes demonstrated comparable efficacy to the current biologic market leader (though the smaller sample size and differences in population enrolled limited the comparison, in our view). Overall, we think etrasimod’s AD data is encouraging (albeit still inconclusive), with sufficient efficacy signals and a well characterized safety profile to support further development and potential benefit across dermatologic indications."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Arena Pharma click here. For more ratings news on Arena Pharma click here.

Shares of Arena Pharma closed at $61.29 yesterday.

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