Arrowhead Rises on Positive Candidate News

By Chris Lange Updated Oct 9, 11:23AM EDT · Published Sep 11, 2:05PM EDT

Arrowhead Research Corp. (NASDAQ: ARWR) made waves in the market on Friday afternoon on positive developments surrounding its ARC-HIF2. The company announced that it has nominated ARC-HIF2 as its first therapeutic candidate delivered using a new Dynamic Polyconjugate (DPC) designed to target tissues outside of the liver. Arrowhead believes that ARC-HIF2, which uses RNA interference to silence transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α), is a promising new candidate for the treatment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

For some background: ARC-HIF2 is designed to inhibit the production of HIF-2α, which has been linked to tumor progression and metastasis in ccRCC. Using ARC-HIF2 in a preclinical ccRCC tumor model, mice treated with weekly injections led to greater than 80% knockdown of HIF-2α mRNA in tumors. Furthermore, tumors from treated mice exhibited statistically significant reductions in size and weight, extensive tumor cell death and destruction of the blood vessels feeding the tumors.

Preclinical data will be presented at the European Cancer Congress 2015 (ECC2015) in Vienna on September 27. At this presentation, Arrowhead scientists will show data suggesting that HIF-2α inhibition through RNA interference may significantly impact late stage ccRCC progression. The company is in the process of manufacturing scale up to allow for initiation of IND-enabling studies. Timing for anticipated regulatory submission will be announced in the future.

Christopher Anzalone, Ph.D., Arrowhead’s president and CEO, said:

Preclinical data using our new extrahepatic DPC delivery system has been very promising. We think the ability to target tissues outside of the liver, including tumors, opens additional opportunities for Arrowhead to develop differentiated RNAi-therapeutics that address numerous diseases without adequate treatment options. This is an important milestone for Arrowhead and we look forward to continued development of the DPC delivery platform and product candidates based on it.

Shares of Arrowhead were up 9.4% at $6.26 on Friday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $9.50 and a 52-week trading range of $4.35 to $16.97.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.