First Diet Pill in Decade Turns Arena Into Deal Bait: Real M&A

The first medication in more than a decade to help 78 million obese Americans slim down is turning into takeover bait.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. won Food and Drug Administration approval last month for Belviq, a treatment affecting an area of the brain that helps a person feel full after consuming less food. With the first weight-loss drug to be cleared for sale in the U.S. in 13 years, Arena is projected by analysts to increase revenue 18-fold in the next four years, the fastest growth in the world among specialty pharmaceutical companies greater than $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.