UK's Proximagen boosted by US lorcaserin news with respect to its own obesity drug candidate

UK-based biotechnology firm Proximagen (AIM: PRX) saw its shares leap 20.1% to 257.5 pence, on the back of good news for US firm Arena Pharmaceuticals in relation to a US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel backing for an obesity drug candidate (The Pharma Letter May 11), which could be the first new weight-loss drug to be cleared by the US regulator in more than a decade.

The Arena drug, lorcaserin, in development with Japan’s Eisai, is a 5-HT2c agonist, like Proximagen’s developmental compound PRX00933, which is also intended for weight management, including weight loss and maintenance of weight loss, in patients who are obese or overweight and have at least one weight-related co-morbid condition. Arena’s stock price had rocketed almost 65% to $6.04 in afternoon market action on news that an FDA advisory panel voted late Thursday to recommended approval for lorcaserin.

Proximagen owns the worldwide rights to PRX00933 for treating obesity. In Phase II trials, PRX00933 showed a dose-dependent and statistically significant decrease in body weight that falls within FDA guidelines for this condition. PRX00933 has been shown to be safe and well tolerated and has been administered to approximately 400 patients, the UK company said.