Arena Lays Off 31% of Its Staff Following Obesity Trial Failure

(MoneyWatch)  Arena Pharmaceuticals is to lay off 31 percent, or 130 employees, before June 22, the company told the SEC. Arena staffers -- whose future is dependent on an anti-obesity drug, lorcaserin -- may be forgiven for wondering how it has all gone wrong so quickly. In February, Arena CEO Jack Lief said:

We will be announcing very important results of a very important study ... We have expressed confidence that the results will be positive.

But in March it emerged that the results of the study were mixed at best -- some users lost weight on locaserin, but not enough to satisfy the FDA.

And now the vultures are gathering. The stock was punished; 46 percent of its value is gone. Its competitor, Vivus, is further ahead in this game. Amylin has an anti-obesity compound up its sleeve, too. And Iguana Bio mocked how Arena referred to the layoffs as "Disposal activities" in its release.

So, time to update the list:

• Obesity: A Graveyard of Failed Pharma Products
• Vivus Beating Arena, Orexigen In Obesity Graveyard Race
• FDA Moves Against Unapproved Obesity Drugs
• Pfizer in November 2008 scrapped its anti-fat drug, the unnamed "CP-945,598," for "regulatory" reasons.
• Sanofi-Aventis in November 2008 announced that it was ending its trials on Acomplia/Zimulti, an obesity pill that was approved and then yanked in Europe.
• Merck in November 2008 pulled its fat pill, taranabant, from its pipeline.
• GlaxoSmithKline has had dissappointing sales from Alli so far.
• Roche had negligible sales from Xenical, the Rx version of Alli.
• Solvay in November 2008 also abandoned its attempt to bring an anti-fat pill to market.
• Abbott Labs sold Meridia, but it failed to take off due to cardiovascular concerns.
• Wyeth abandoned fen-phen and Redux after they produced lawsuits.