Orexigen Jumps on Diet Pill’s Heart Benefit as FDA Frowns
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Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. shares soared to their highest value in more than 18 months after the drugmaker said its diet pill Contrave had cardiovascular benefits. Regulators and the study’s researchers criticized the drugmaker for releasing the data, saying it wasn’t meant to be public.
Patients on Contrave had fewer major adverse cardiovascular events and cardiovascular deaths than patients on a placebo, Orexigen said. Those conclusions were based on early data from a study of 8,910 obese patients.