Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARNA incurred a loss of $1.98 per share in the first quarter of 2021, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.19. The company had incurred loss of $2.00 per share in the year-ago quarter.Arena recorded no revenues in the reported quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimates for revenues was pegged at $1 million. The company had recorded revenues of $0.3 million in the year-ago quarter.Shares of Arena have lost 16.3% so far this year compared with the industry’s 6% decrease.Quarter in DetailsResearch & development (R&D) expenses escalated 30.6% from the prior-year level to $102.5 million, primarily as a result of the progress of its pipeline candidate, etrasimod, to the next phase of clinical development.Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 11.7% from the year-ago figure to $29.5 million.The company ended the quarter with approximately $1.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments balance, same as of Sep 30, 2020.Pipeline UpdateIn March, Arena announced that a mid-stage study evaluating its cannabinoid receptor 2 agonist candidate, olorinab, in patients with abdominal pain due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) failedto meet the primary endpoint. Further development of the candidate is now subject to regulatory approval.Arena has another candidate, etrasimod, in its pipeline that is being developed for multiple indications in separate clinical studies. It also has two early-stage candidates, ADP418 and temanogrel.Etrasimod is presently in late-stage development for ulcerative colitis. Arena is evaluating the candidate in the pivotal phase III ELEVATE UC 52 study and another phase III study — ELEVATE UC 12 — as a treatment for moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis ("UC"). Top-line data from both studies are expected in the first quarter of 2022.During the first quarter, the company initiated a phase IIb study — VOYAGE — to evaluate etrasimod in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).The company is also evaluating the candidate in the phase IIb/III CULTIVATE study in patients with Crohn's disease. A phase II study is evaluating etrasimod in alopecia areata (AA) patients. The company is advancing the candidate to a phase III registrational program to evaluate it as a potential treatment for atopic dermatitis.The temanogrel program was announced in January at the JP Morgan Health Care Conference. It will be developed for treating coronary microvascular obstruction disease. A phase II study is under planning.Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. QuoteZacks Rank and Stocks to ConsiderArena currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked stocks from the drug/biotech sector are Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AVIR, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. KNSA and Nabriva Therapeutics AG NBRV, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Atea’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from $3.79 to $8.34 for 2021 and from $16.76 to $17.25 for 2022 in the past 30 days. The stock has soared 757.3% in the past year.Kiniksa’s loss per share estimates narrowed from $2.70 to $2.62 for 2021 and from $2.40 to $2.07 for 2022 in the past 30 days.Nabriva’s loss per share estimates narrowed from $2.03 to $1.95 for 2021 and from $1.35 to $1.22 for 2022 in the past 30 days. The company delivered an earnings surprise of 46.50%, on average, in the last four quarters.Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?Last year's 2020Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.AccessZacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA): Free Stock Analysis Report Nabriva Therapeutics AG (NBRV): Free Stock Analysis Report Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AVIR): Free Stock Analysis Report Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (KNSA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research