Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced the appointment of Manmeet S. Soni as a non-executive director. Soni is a highly accomplished senior finance executive with extensive experience in the life sciences industry.

"Manmeet brings deep financial and business expertise to the board, and we are thrilled to welcome him," said Tina Nova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arena. "His leadership abilities and senior finance experience within the life sciences industry will be instrumental as we strategically advance Arena towards its next stage of growth."

Soni has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since May 2017. From March 2016 to February 2017, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, when ARIAD was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Previously, Soni served as Chief Financial Officer of Pharmacyclics, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, until its acquisition by AbbVie, Inc. in May 2015. He first joined Pharmacyclics in September 2012 as corporate controller and served in various increasingly senior roles prior to being appointed Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer in February 2014. Prior to joining Pharmacyclics, Soni worked at ZELTIQ Aesthetics Inc., a publicly held medical technology company, as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the Life Science and Venture Capital Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers India, providing audit and assurance services. Mr. Soni currently serves as director of Pulse Biosciences, Inc. He is a certified public accountant and completed his Chartered Accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Arena Pharmaceuticals is driven to deliver novel, transformational medicines with optimized pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to patients globally. Arena's proprietary pipeline includes multiple potentially first- or best-in-class assets with broad clinical utility. Etrasimod (APD334), with potential utility in a broad range of immune and inflammatory conditions, is being evaluated in later-stage clinical programs in ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease, as well as in programs for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and atopic dermatitis. Ralinepag (APD811) is being evaluated in a Phase 3 program for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Arena is also evaluating olorinab (APD371) in a Phase 2 program for gastrointestinal pain. Arena continues to assess other earlier research and development stage drug candidates, including APD418 for decompensated heart failure.

In addition, Arena has several partnerships including with Everest Medicines Limited (ralinepag and etrasimod in Greater China and select Asian countries), Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH (undisclosed target - preclinical), Outpost Medicine, LLC (undisclosed target – preclinical), and Eisai Co., Ltd. and Eisai Inc. (BELVIQ - marketed product).