Founder Stories: Christopher Anzalone, CEO of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals & RNAi Beyond The Liver
Chris Anzalone is an entrepreneur and biotech executive, serving as CEO, president, and director of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, ...
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & President, Arrowhead Pharmaceutical
Search every verified Christopher Anzalone interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Christopher Anzalone, president, CEO, and director of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, has continued to advance the company's RNA interference (RNAi) platform, with a focus on expanding delivery beyond the liver into new cell types such as solid tumors, lung, and skeletal muscle. In 2023, he stated that the company expects to announce the next cell type it will target in the first half of the yearikuha. Anzalone has described RNAi as "the best bet in biotech," citing its surgical precision and durability, with some drugs showing activity for more than six months from a single injection. He has also emphasized the company's strategy of focusing on genetically validated targets to de-risk clinical programs. On the financial and partnership front, Anzalone noted that Arrowhead sold potential royalties from its Amgen-partnered cardiovascular drug olpasiran to Royalty Pharma for $250 million upfront, with up to $160 million in additional payments, while retaining rights to $400 million in milestone payments from Amgen. He has highlighted the company's "20 and 25" program, aiming to have 20 drug candidates in clinical trials or on the market by 2025. Anzalone has also discussed plans to commercialize certain drugs internally, including a cardiovascular outcome study for its wholly owned candidate ARO-ANG3, which he said has shown "unequivocal" data. He has characterized the current period as "the first inning of the RNA interference game," predicting that dozens of powerful medicines will reach patients in the coming years.
“RNAi is the best bet in biotech. It is a mechanism with surgical precision; if done right, you can silence a single gene, which is extraordinarily powerful. Plus, it's non-permanent and durable, with some drugs showing activity for more than six months from a single injection.”
“The biggest challenge in RNAi therapy has been delivery. Early approaches attached toxic elements to RNA molecules, causing off-target effects and toxicity. We've now developed a method to chemically modify RNA molecules and tether targeting ligands to deliver them safely and specifically to the right cells.”
“We focus on genetically validated targets where we understand the effects of turning off a gene, which de-risks clinical studies compared to small molecules that have unknown interactions.”
“Our initial RNAi targets are liver diseases like Hepatitis B and Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency because the liver is a clearance organ that readily takes up molecules, making it a good initial target for RNAi therapies.”
“We have a cardiovascular program partnered with Amgen targeting Lp(a), a genetically validated risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and internal programs that dramatically lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, which could be powerful cardiometabolic medicines.”
“We are expanding RNAi beyond the liver into solid tumors, lung, and skeletal muscle, targeting new cell types with unique delivery challenges. This expansion allows us to ask fresh, innovative questions and push the technology forward rapidly.”
“Big Pharma is better at late-stage clinical studies and distribution, while small biotech companies like ours are faster and better at innovation. The recent re-entry of Novartis into RNAi is a good example of this industry dynamic working as it should.”
“We've gone from idea to clinic in 12 to 18 months for many hepatitis-targeted programs, which is unheard of in the field. This speed is important because every day patients don't have access to medicines is a bad day for them.”
“Despite the challenges and complexity, working at Arrowhead is exciting because we are pushing medicine quickly and impacting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. It's a unique gift to be part of this work.”
“This is the first inning of the RNA interference game. Over the next several years, dozens of powerful medicines will come to patients. It's an exciting time to be in biopharma with many new technologies moving quickly.”
“We recently decided to sell the potential royalties we would receive from Amgen on future old passer and sales to royalty Pharma we received 250 million dollars in cash up front and up to 160 million dollars in additional payments contingent on the achievement of certain clinical Regulatory and sales milestones. in add...”
“Our overarching goal is to bring important medicines to patients as quickly as possible and I believe there are two critical interrelated pieces to that one develop and commercialize some drugs ourselves and two substantially increase our market capitalization so we can do more of number one.”
“We plan to have 20 individual drug candidates in clinical trials or in the market in 2025. between a heart patocide directed programs are pulmonary programs potential skeletal muscle targeted programs and new cell types we believe we'll hit 20 in the year 2025 between wholly owned drug candidates and partner programs t...”
“We essentially gave ourselves a six month head start on all that work this is critical since we plan on having multiple interface committing and moving forward with multiple phase three studies over the next 12 months.”
“We recently decided to sell the potential royalties we would receive from Amgen on future OLPASIRAN sales to royalty farmer. We received 250 million dollars in cash up front and up to 160 million dollars in additional payments contingent on the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory, and sales milestones. In addit...”
Chris Anzalone is an entrepreneur and biotech executive, serving as CEO, president, and director of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, ...
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR Q4 2022 Earnings Call.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) 3Q 2022 Earnings Call #ARWR #ArrowheadPharmaceuticals #invest Please like and subscribe! / @1conferencecall
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Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals leader Christopher Anzalone, Ph.D. gives us the inside story on the stake his company claimed on ...
Jim Cramer chats with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals CEO Christophere Anzalone about projects the company is working on to ...
Christopher R. Anzalone, PhD, President, CEO and Director of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, presents at Master Investor 2016.
As thousands of investors already know, Master Investor is the UK's leading investment show. Master Investor unites highly ...
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