Pasadena Biotech Wins $40 Million Upfront Commitment to Develop New Gout Treatment

A Pasadena pharmaceuticals company has entered into an agreement with an Ireland-based firm that could be worth up to $660 million for the development of a new therapy meant to treat uncontrolled gout, the representatives announced Monday.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, which has partnered with Horizon Therapeutics, headquartered in Dublin, announced a “global collaboration and license agreement” for ARO-XDH, described by Arrowhead as “a previously undisclosed discovery-stage investigational RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic being developed by Arrowhead as a potential treatment for people with uncontrolled gout.”

Under the deal, Arrowhead will continue developing the treatment through preclinical stages, the company said in a written statement. Horizon will receive an exclusive license for the drug and will be in charge of clinical development and commercialization.

“Arrowhead will receive $40 million as an upfront payment from Horizon and is eligible to receive up to $660 million in potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones, and is further eligible to receive royalties in the low- to mid-teens range on net product sales,” the statement said.

Horizon’s expertise makes the company an “ideal partner” for the collaboration, Arrowhead President and CEO Christopher Anzalone said.

“We look forward to working closely with Horizon as we advance this potential new therapy for patients in need,” he said. “This collaboration with Horizon also represents further expansion of our rapidly growing pipeline of investigational RNAi therapeutics that utilize Arrowhead’s proprietary Targeted RNAi Molecule (TRiMTM) platform.”

Horizon Chairman, President and CEO Tim Walbert said his company was also optimistic about what the partnership could lead to.

“As a commercial and clinical leader in gout, we understand the disease and its impact, and that there is still a tremendous unmet treatment need,” he said. “The collaboration with Arrowhead adds an additional program to our research and development focus to discover and develop new, innovative medicines that continue to improve gout treatment across the continuum of care.”

More information on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is available on the company’s website at arrowheadpharma.com.