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Etrasimod Results Justify Pfizer’s Leap Of Faith In Arena Buyout

Big Pharma Executed $6.7bn Deal Without Seeing Phase III Data

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Detailed data presented at Digestive Disease Week show competitive efficacy in ulcerative colitis and a potential best-in-class safety profile for the S1P receptor modulator Pfizer acquired earlier this year. 

Businessman taking a leap of faith
Pfizer saw only Phase II data and blinded Phase III results for etrasimod ahead of its Arena buyout • Source: Shutterstock

Based on an incomplete data set and its own understanding of the ulcerative colitis (UC) market, Pfizer Inc. took a bit of a leap of faith in December when it agreed to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $6.7bn. But now detailed results from the Phase III ELEVATE UC clinical trials presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) on 24 May show that Pfizer’s M&A leap was not a misstep.

Michael Corbo, chief development officer for Pfizer’s immunology and inflammation (I&I) franchise, noted in an interview with Scrip that the company only saw blinded data from the ELEVATE UC 12 and ELEVATE UC 52 trials of etrasimod when it was trying to decide whether to buy Arena late last year; the deal closed in March

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