On August 18, 2020 Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR) reported that it has dosed the first patient in AROHIF21001, a Phase 1b dose-finding clinical study of ARO-HIF2, the company’s investigational RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic being developed as a treatment for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) (Press release, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, AUG 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234563781]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
Javier San Martin, M.D., chief medical officer at Arrowhead, said: "This Phase 1b study is designed to provide us with a robust readout on safety and dose response of ARO-HIF2, and may also deliver signals on preliminary efficacy in an advanced ccRCC patient population. Most patients with ccRCC, one of the most common forms of kidney cancer, have an inactivated mutation in the Von Hippel-Lindau gene rendering them unable to degrade HIF-2α, which leads to an increase in activity during tumor hypoxia and promotes tumor growth. We believe that HIF-2α is an attractive target for RNAi-based gene silencing and, more broadly, we are eager to achieve clinical validation for our tumor targeted TRiM-enabled RNAi therapeutics so we can address additional unmet needs in oncology. We also recently announced that ARO-ENaC, our investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting cystic fibrosis, started dosing in a Phase 1/2 study. This means that our TRiM platform is now being studied in three different tissue types in human clinical trials. This is very exciting for us at Arrowhead and, we think, represents a significant step towards reaching the full therapeutic potential of RNA interference."
AROHIF21001 (NCT04169711) is a Phase 1b dose-finding clinical study in up to 18 patients with advanced ccRCC to evaluate the safety of ARO-HIF2 and to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose. Secondary objectives include the assessment of pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy, based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Exploratory objectives for AROHIF21001 are post-dose tumoral expression of HIF genes in response to treatment with ARO-HIF2, change in Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), correlation of tumor response based on RECIST with tumor HIF2α gene expression and tumor integrin expression, correlation of integrin expression with changes in HIF gene expression, evaluation of serum biomarkers of ARO-HIF2 activity, correlation of RCC-related gene expression to ARO-HIF2 activity, and evaluation of plasma and urine metabolites.