Arrowhead doses 1st patients in study of ARO-INHBE for obesity treatment

Arrowhead (ARWR) Pharmaceuticals announced that it has dosed the first subjects in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of ARO-INHBE, the company’s investigational RNA interference RNAi therapeutic being developed as a potential treatment for obesity. Arrowhead also filed recently a request for regulatory clearance to initiate a clinical trial for its second obesity candidate, ARO-ALK7. Both ARO-INHBE and ARO-ALK7 are designed to intervene in a known pathway that signals the body to store fat in adipose tissue. “ARO-INHBE is an important program for Arrowhead that complements our strategic focus on developing and commercializing important RNAi-based therapies for cardiometabolic diseases. Further, our preclinical studies have yielded promising results for this novel mechanism to reduce body weight and potentially preserve lean muscle mass resulting in improved body composition,” said James Hamilton, M.D., Chief of Discovery and Translational Medicine at Arrowhead. “The Phase 1/2 study will evaluate ARO-INHBE as a monotherapy in part 1 and as a combination therapy with tirzepatide in part 2, with both parts enrolling patients with obesity.”