Arrowhead, Calando drug delivery, cancer news
Arrowhead said that subsidiary Calando ceased day-to-day operations after it discontinued CALAA-01 for solid tumors - its only internal development program. Calando said data did not support further development of the compound, which had completed a Phase Ib trial in 2012. Last August, Calando terminated a license from the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.) granting Calando rights to develop and commercialize short interfering RNA therapeutics based on linear cyclodextrin drug delivery technology developed by the institute. CALAA-01 is an siRNA duplex targeting the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase ( RRM2) delivered via the RONDEL delivery system, which Calando developed based on the license.
Arrowhead said Calando remains an active, legal entity and is eligible for milestones and royalties under a 2009 deal granting Cerulean Pharma Inc., (Cambridge, Mass.) exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize CRLX101. The dual inhibitor of topoisomerase I (TOP1) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha ( HIF1A; HIF1-alpha) is in a two-part Phase II trial in ovarian cancer patients who had progressed on prior lines of cytotoxic chemotherapy (see BioCentury, June 29, 2009). ...