Here's Why Arena Pharmaceuticals Jumped Higher Today

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARNA) are up 13% at 2:13 p.m. EDT because its rival, Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), reported positive data on Zeposia in patients with ulcerative colitis. Zeposia targets the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor, just like Arena's etrasimod.

Typically, good data from a rival drugmaker would send shares down, not up, but ulcerative colitis is a common enough disease -- around a million Americans have it -- that there's enough room in the marketplace for more than one drug. There's also some evidence that etrasimod might be more effective than Zeposia, although the drugs haven't been compared in a head-to-head study.

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Source Fool.com