Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted RNAi therapeutics.
Targeting Innovation
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals develops novel drugs to treat intractable diseases by silencing the genes that cause them. Using the broadest portfolio of RNA chemistries and efficient modes of delivery, Arrowhead therapies trigger the RNA interference mechanism to induce rapid, deep and durable knockdown of target genes. Arrowhead’s most advanced drug candidate in clinical development is ARC-520, which is designed to treat chronic hepatitis B infection by inhibiting the production of all HBV gene products. The goal is to reverse the immune suppression that prevents the body from controlling the virus and clearing the disease. Arrowhead’s second clinical candidate is ARC-AAT, a treatment for a rare liver disease associated with a genetic disorder that causes alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
Lead Products
ARC-520 is an RNAi-based therapeutic designed to treat chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. It is the first clinical-stage drug candidate from Arrowhead’s Dynamic Polyconjugate® delivery platform. It is designed to treat chronic HBV infection by reducing the expression and release of new viral particles and key viral proteins with the goal of achieving a functional cure for HBV.
ARC-AAT is a novel unlocked nucleobase analog (UNA)-containing RNAi-based therapeutic for the treatment of liver disease associated with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD), a rare genetic disease that can severely damage the liver and lungs of affected individuals. The goal of treatment with ARC-AAT is to reduce the production of the mutant Z-AAT protein to prevent and potentially reverse accumulation-related liver injury and fibrosis.
The companys pre-clinical stage drug candidates include ARC-521, an RNAi-based therapeutic for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus; ARC-F12, an RNAi-based therapeutic to treat hereditary angioedema and thromboembolic diseases; ARC-HIF2, an RNAi-based therapeutic to treat renal cell carcinoma; and ARC-LPA, an RNAi-based therapeutic for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It also holds patents related to Adipotide for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic disorders. The company has research collaboration and license agreement with Shire AG to develop and commercialize targeted peptide-drug conjugates.
Platform Delivery Technology
The Dynamic Polyconjugate (DPC®) platform is an RNAi delivery system that has been demonstrated to preferentially deliver to hepatocytes, induce efficient endosomal escape, promote high levels of gene knockdown in multiple animal models, and appears to be well tolerated using a variety of RNAi trigger molecules. It is a modular system that can be optimized on a target-by-target basis and may be targeted in the future to address multiple organ systems and cell types.
Pipeline Development Strategy
Arrowhead’s internal drug pipeline is intended to drive value directly through the clinical development of novel therapeutics and to provide proof of concept for our platform technologies. In addition to our two lead product candidates, ARC-520 and ARC-AAT, we intend to nominate additional clinical candidates that utilize the DPC delivery system. Our core areas of focus for expanding our internal pipeline of RNAi therapeutics are: (1) develop intravenous (IV) administered liver-targeted candidates; (2) develop subcutaneously administered liver-targeted candidates; and (3) explore extra-hepatic targets, including oncology.
THIS IS HUGE!!!!! I have posted about this before and even more so, emailed in my network, that xAg plays a more prominent role in viral transcription than the company has alluded. Dr. A mentioned this on one CC. They showed very high xAg KD in the single dose p2a trial. Then they shut up about it. Not a word. No further references to xAg or KD thereof in any PR or quarterly or annual filing. I was curious as heck why that was. So I called Vince Anzalone and asked. I got a wishy washy meandering non answer to a straight up question. "What does ARWR know about the role of xAg in viral transcription?" My father was a world class psychiatrist. When I was still a boy he told me that it is equally important to read body language and how a person says something as it is to listen to and interpret what they say. Vince's non-answer pretty much confirmed to me that xAg probably played a major role and that this was part of the data that ARWR did not release and to which Dr. A. has sheepishly and Spartanly referred. The date of the article is 3/17/16 so this is about as fresh as it gets. HUGE!!!!! I think this is another iHBV moment although it will not officially be a "Moment," if and until the company publicly opines on the matter. Another stake in the heart of the competition no doubt.
THIS IS HUGE!!!!! I have posted about this before and even more so, emailed in my network, that xAg plays a more prominent role in viral transcription than the company has alluded. Dr. A mentioned this on one CC. They showed very high xAg KD in the single dose p2a trial. Then they shut up about it. Not a word. No further references to xAg or KD thereof in any PR or quarterly or annual filing. I was curious as heck why that was. So I called Vince Anzalone and asked. I got a wishy washy meandering non answer to a straight up question. "What does ARWR know about the role of xAg in viral transcription?" My father was a world class psychiatrist. When I was still a boy he told me that it is equally important to read body language and how a person says something as it is to listen to and interpret what they say. Vince's non-answer pretty much confirmed to me that xAg probably played a major role and that this was part of the data that ARWR did not release and to which Dr. A. has sheepishly and Spartanly referred. The date of the article is 3/17/16 so this is about as fresh as it gets. HUGE!!!!! I think this is another iHBV moment although it will not officially be a "Moment," if and until the company publicly opines on the matter. Another stake in the heart of the competition no doubt.