NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 22, 2017 / Despite the recent sell-off triggered by the recent health-care bill that is meant to take the place of the Affordable Care Act, the Biotech Industry has continued to outperform the broader markets in 2017. The Biotech Industry has benefited from a speedier FDA approval process in 2017. There has been 20 new Novel Drug Approvals so far in 2017, compared to just 22 new approvals in all of 2016.The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF have posted year-to-date gains of 9.45 and 16.81 percent, respectively, compared to gains of 5.27 percent and 6.38 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ARNA

GlycoMimetics Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=GLYC

Arena Pharmaceuticals' shares spiked 15.65 percent to close at $1.33 a share on Friday. The stock traded between $1.22 and $1.39 on volume of 7.01 million shares traded. The company reported a net loss of $22.5 million, or a loss of $0.09 per share, on revenues of $6.6 million for the first quarter of 2017. At March 31, 2017, cash and cash equivalents totaled $79.5 million, and approximately 248 million shares of Arena common stock were outstanding. Arena Pharmaceuticals is scheduled to present Phase 1 data on ralinepag (APD811), a potential treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2017 International Conference, which is being held on May 19th ? 24th. Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals have fallen approximately 6.34 percent year-to-date.

"The Phase 1 clinical data supports our belief that ralinepag is a potential best-in-class oral prostacyclin therapy," said Amit Munshi, Arena's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The acceptance of the scientific data presentation at ATS underscores the enthusiasm on the part of clinical investigators to continue to explore the novel profile of ralinepag."

Access RDI's Arena Pharmaceuticals Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ARNA

GlycoMimetics' shares jumped 19.59 percent to close at $12.76 a share on Friday. The stock traded between $11.26 and $14.64 on volume of 36.17 million shares traded. On May 17th, the company announced that GMI-1271 received Breakthrough Therapy designation for treatment of adult relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Shares of GlycoMimetics have gained approximately 109.18 percent year-to-date.

"The FDA's granting to GMI-1271 of Breakthrough Therapy designation will further help GlycoMimetics to accelerate the development of GMI-1271 as a treatment for this very difficult-to-treat patient population," said Helen Thackray, MD, Chief Medical Officer of GlycoMimetics. "We believe GMI-1271 when combined with chemotherapy has the potential to address an unmet therapeutic need for individuals living with AML. We are encouraged by our clinical results to date, and look forward to working closely with the FDA to bring this novel therapy to patients as quickly as possible."

Access RDI's GlycoMimetics Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=GLYC

Our Actionable Research on Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) and GlycoMimetics Inc. (NASDAQ: GLYC) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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SOURCE: RDInvesting.com