VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) Shares Rallied Sharply On Positive News

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS), which is expecting the European Medicines Agency to reject approval for its anti-obesity drug Qsymia, saw its shares spike on Monday.

The spike came after the company put out a release saying that the largest domestic pharmacy benefit manager, Express Scripts, has joined VVUS in its mail-only delivery network for Qsymia.

This is a big boost for Vivus, which has already obtained U.S. FDA approval for its anti-obesity drug and is looking for a huge sales push.

Its closest competitor Arena Pharmaceuticals has also obtained approval for its competing anti-obesity drug Belviq.  These are the two drugs in this category that have been approved by the U.S. FDA in more than a decade.

Seeking Alpha observed, "While we aren't expecting sales figures that could immediately justify the ~$2 billion valuation of Vivus as a company, this is a somewhat bullish hint for the prescription obesity drug market as a whole. VVUS is moving up especially fast today, because its shareholders also want to see signs of Qsymia getting a head start on the upcoming competition from Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ:ARNA)’s Belviq (lorcaserin)."

On September 21, shares in Vivus tanked 12 percent and has since moved to $18 a share.

On Monday it rallied more than 10%.

Part of it also stems from the fact that Belviq cannot be put into the market until it gets clearance from the DE, which leaves the field clear for Qsymia.

Shares of ARNA also rose 1.50% to $8.76.