Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Initiates Phase 1/2a Study of ARO-ALK7 for the Treatment of Obesity

Business Wire

3 days ago

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR) today announced that it has dosed the first subjects in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of ARO-ALK7, the company's investigational RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic being developed as a potential treatment for obesity. ARO-ALK7 is designed to intervene in a known pathway that signals the body to store fat in adipose tissue. The study initiates in otherwise healthy obese subjects using single and multiple escalating doses of ARO-ALK7 monotherapy and is expected to progress rapidly to investigate combinations of ARO-ALK7 with tirzepatide in obese patients with and without type 2 diabetes.
ARO-ALK7 is designed to intervene in a known pathway that signals the body to store fat in adipose tissue.
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'Arrowhead's two clinical stage RNAi-based obesity programs, ARO-ALK7 and ARO-INHBE, intervene in a known pathway that signals the body to store fat in adipose tissue. Both programs have strong genetic validation and promising results in preclinical studies, which suggest that silencing the respective genes may lead to reduced body weight and potentially preserve lean muscle mass resulting in improved body composition,' said James Hamilton, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D. 'This ongoing Phase 1/2a clinical study will evaluate single and multiple ascending doses of ARO-ALK7 as monotherapy in otherwise healthy obese volunteers as well as multiple doses in obese patients with or without type 2 diabetes in combination with incretin therapy.'
About ARO-ALK7
ARO-ALK7 is designed to silence adipocyte expression of the ACVR1C gene to reduce production of Activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7), which acts as a receptor in a pathway that regulates energy homeostasis in adipose tissue. In large genetic datasets, reduced ACVR1C expression has been associated with healthier adipose distribution and reduced risk of obesity-related metabolic complications. In preclinical animal studies, ALK7 silencing in adipose tissue led to reduced body weight and fat mass with preservation of lean muscle. Treatment with investigational ARO-ALK7 has the potential to reduce visceral adiposity and improve lipid and glycemic parameters.
About the AROALK7-1001 Phase 1/2 Study
AROALK7-1001 (NCT06937203) is a Phase 1/2a first-in-human dose-escalating study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of ARO-ALK7 in up to 90 adult volunteers with obesity. Part 1 of the study is designed to assess single and multiple doses of ARO-ALK7 monotherapy, and Part 2 of the study is designed to assess ARO-ALK7 in combination with tirzepatide, a subcutaneously administered GLP-1/GIP receptor co-agonist that has been approved in the United States and the European Union for management type 2 diabetes mellitus since 2022 and weight management since 2023/2024 respectively.
About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals develops medicines that treat intractable diseases by silencing the genes that cause them. Using a broad 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. RNA interference, or RNAi, is a mechanism present in living cells that inhibits the expression of a specific gene, thereby affecting the production of a specific protein. Arrowhead's RNAi-based therapeutics leverage this natural pathway of gene silencing.
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Source: Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc.