BioForward is reaching out to members to highlight their organizations through a new member profile feature to tell more of their stories. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals agreed to be interviewed as a part of our efforts to heighten the awareness of our region.

About your organization:

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals develops medicines that treat intractable diseases by silencing the genes that cause them. Using a broad portfolio of RNA chemistries and efficient modes of delivery, Arrowhead therapies trigger the RNA interference mechanism to induce rapid, deep and durable knockdown of target genes. RNA interference, or RNAi, is a mechanism present in living cells that inhibits the expression of a specific gene, thereby affecting the production of a specific protein. Arrowhead’s RNAi-based therapeutics leverage this natural pathway of gene silencing.

What do you find valuable about being a member of BioForward Wisconsin?

Arrowhead is honored to be included in the BioForward Wisconsin community. We are dedicated in supporting its mission “to grow Wisconsin bio health companies and unite the industry to develop integrated health solutions that define the future of healthcare.” Being able to connect and collaborate with other companies to support the economic and social impact on our Wisconsin community has not only been invaluable to our growth and success as a company to date, but also been a tremendously rewarding experience.

What are the key areas of or achievements by your organization that are impacting the state of Wisconsin and the overall biohealth industry?

For more than a decade, Arrowhead has been a dedicated member of the biotech community in the greater Madison, Wisconsin, area. We have built strong local relationships and are pleased to continue our growth with the new Arrowhead campus that will include a new GMP manufacturing facility and associated lab and office facility. We expect that the addition of the new facilities will result in the creation of approximately 250 new jobs in the local area. This investment reaffirms our commitment to the Wisconsin biotech ecosystem, and we would like to thank the local agencies, who have been a pleasure to work with. As a result of this expansion, we are now one step closer to providing new medicines for patients worldwide suffering from a range of diseases with significant unmet needs. 

What about the future of research, medical, technological innovation excites you the most?

At Arrowhead, we believe that there is so much untapped potential in the use of RNAi to treat a broad range of diseases. We are proud to be at the cutting edge of this growing field, and are excited by what the future will hold. Our pipeline of what we believe are industry leading investigational RNAi medicines continues to expand rapidly. The new Arrowhead campus will allow us to support our growing pipeline and positions us well to advance the manufacturing process, including at commercial scale, of our TRiM™-enabled drug candidates. We view this as a strong competitive advantage as we approach potential commercialization of our rapidly progressing clinical candidates.