July 23, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) plans to offer nine million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. Leerink Swann is acting as sole book-running manager.

In connection with this offering, Orexigen plans to grant to the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.35 million shares of common stock to cover overallotments.

Orexigen is offering all of the shares.

San Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity. The company’s lead investigational product, Contrave, has completed Phase 3 clinical trials. The company said the drug is on track for a regulatory submission with the FDA in the first half of 2010.

Orexigen’s second product, Empatic, is in the later stages of Phase 2 clinical development, with results expected in the second half of 2009. Each product candidate is designed to act on a specific group of neurons in the central nervous system with the goal of achieving appetite suppression and sustained weight loss, through combination therapeutic approaches.

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