Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 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.
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.
