Arrowhead fires CSO & Co-inventor of delivery tech responsible for clinical trial abandonment

02-Dec-2016 - Last updated on 15-Aug-2019 at 15:43 GMT

David Lewis - CSO of Arrowhead

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. has also laid off its Chief scientific officer David Lewis - as part of the 34 staff cull - after several trials using delivery vehicle Ex1 were stopped by the firm.

Lewis is co-inventor of the proprietary Dynamic Polyconjugate (DPC) technology – which includes the drug delivery vehicle Ex1.

The firm stopped trials using Ex1 after multiple deaths of non-human primates in a parallel study of the toxicology of the vehicle led to a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clinical hold.

Arrowhead stocks dropped over 60% and in response, the California-based company announced a 30% staff cut.

Arrowhead claims it will continue clinical development of the ARC-500, ARC-520 and ARC-AAT therapies, but using an alternative DPC – completely abandoning use of Ex1.

In a statement, the firm explained - “During ongoing discussions with regulatory agencies and outside experts, it became apparent that there would be substantial delays in all clinical programs that utilise EX1”.

David Lewis was appointed CSO in 2013, following two years of overseeing the clinical development of ARC-520 at the R&D facility in Wisconsin, US.

Lewis will formerly exit the company in two weeks.