Arrowhead Gets $120m From GSK For First-In-Class NASH RNAi Candidate

GlaxoSmithKline plcmoves into non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) R&D with a mid-stage RNA-interference candidate, while Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. turns a candidate that it did not plan to commercialize itself into a revenue source as it frees itself up to focus R&D spending on candidates that it can take to market in smaller patient populations. Those were the rationales offered for a licensing deal announced on 22 November between GSK and Arrowhead during a time of high development risk in the NASH space.

The UK-headquartered pharma will pay Arrowhead $120m up front for development and commercial rights to ARO-HSD, a Phase I/II therapy targeted at the HSD17B13 (hydroxysteroid 17-beta dehydrogenase 13) gene, which...