Sep 15 2008
Calando Pharmaceuticals, a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ARWR), announced today that pre-clinical development of a second siRNA oncology therapeutic, CALAA-02, is underway. The intracellular target for CALAA-02 is HIF-2alpha, or Hypoxia Inducible Factor-2 alpha. HIF-2alpha is overexpressed in a number of solid tumors and is critical for many aspects of tumorigenesis, such as metastasis, angiogenesis, tumor cell proliferation, and tumor response to radiation. HIF-2alpha has been difficult to target using traditional drugs but is effectively targeted by the proprietary siRNA in CALAA-02.
“We are encouraged by the results obtained thus far with our proprietary anti-HIF-2alpha siRNA and are excited to pursue pre-clinical development of CALAA-02,” said Calando CSO for siRNA delivery, Jeremy Heidel, Ph.D. “We expect our experience with CALAA-01 will simplify and accelerate CALAA-02 development.”
Calando’s first siRNA therapeutic, CALAA-01, which targets the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, is currently in a Phase I clinical trial. Calando intends to move CALAA-02 into the clinic in 2009 to demonstrate the ability of the RONDEL™ delivery system to rapidly enable the pathway from target identification through pre-clinical development to clinical application of siRNA therapeutics.