Stocks To Watch: Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARIA), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE), Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA), MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD)

Effective May 15, 2014, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) granted an exemption to BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), together with its subsidiaries, affiliates and associates (collectively, “BlackRock”) under the Company’s Section 382 Rights Agreement, dated as of October 31, 2013, between the Company and Computershare Trust Company, N.A., as rights agent (the “Rights Agreement”) following the determination by a designated committee of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company that BlackRock and the various investment funds and accounts for which BlackRock acts, or may in the future act, as manager and/or investment advisor, are collectively an “Exempt Person” pursuant to Section 29 of the Rights Agreement. Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) stock performance was % in last session and finished the day at $6.35. Traded volume was 5.00million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 11.20million shares. The beta of the stock remained 1.45. Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) insider ownership is 1.80%.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Gilead Sciences, Inc’s (NASDAQ:GILD) $1,000 per-pill “wonder drug,” Sovaldi, in December 2013. The decision by the IDOC sparked debate among state lawmakers, as one course of treatment costs about $84,000. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) rose 0.83 percent to $81.81 Wednesday on volume of 9.04million shares. The intra-day range of the stock was $80.68 to $81.98. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has a market capitalization of $125.63billion.

Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE), a bio pharmaceutical company that is developing as well as commercializing many innovative and targeted oncology treatments which address many major and unmet medical needs in the advancement of cancer care, announced that the Department of Defense will now provide it with funding towards its new clinical-trial with NeuVax in prevention of breast cancer recurrence in the high-risk HER2 3+ patients. This grant, which is a Breast Cancer Research Program Breakthrough Award, has been obtained by Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, M.D., the Associate Professor at the Department of Surgical Oncology, at The University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center. Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE)’s stock on May 21, 2014 reported a decrease of -0.95% to the closing price of $2.08. Its fifty two weeks range is $1.65 -$7.77. The total market capitalization recorded $245.49million. The overall volume in the last trading session was 1.04million shares. In its share capital, GALE has 118.02million outstanding shares.

Last week, companies like Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) and MannKind (MNKD) reported first quarter results. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA)’s loss was wider-than-expected and revenues missed expectations. Company recorded Belviq sales of $2.9 million. Company’s partner, Eisai, is going all out in supporting the promotion of their obesity treatment, Belviq – the company is increasing the sales force for Belviq by 50% to about 600. This is triple the size of the original sales force when Belviq had been launched. The sales force addition means that now about 90k physicians in the U.S. can be targeted — almost four times the physician coverage since launch. On Wednesday, shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) dropped -0.47% to close the day at $6.30. Company return on investment (ROI) is -13.90% and its monthly performance is recorded as -0.63%. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) quarterly revenue growth is -6.53%.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) VP Juergen Martens sold 76,899 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total transaction of $576,742.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 139,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,042,680. MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) stock performance was 3.10% in last session and finished the day at $7.80. Traded volume was 9.96million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 10.37million shares. The beta of the stock remained 1.40. MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) insider ownership is 0.30%.