Arrowhead Stock Rockets 11% Today – Retail Says $200M Upfront Payment From Novartis Collaboration Is ‘Hell Of A Deal’

Under the agreement, Arrowhead will receive a $200 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $2 billion in potential milestone payments, as well as royalties on commercial sales.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARWR) on Tuesday announced a global licensing and collaboration agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS) for its investigational therapy for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease.

Under the agreement, Novartis will receive an exclusive worldwide license to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize ARO-SNCA, a preclinical-stage program for the potential treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies. Novartis will also select additional collaboration targets outside of Arrowhead’s current pipeline to be developed using Arrowhead’s Targeted RNAi Molecule (TRiM) platform, Arrowhead said.

Meanwhile, Arrowhead will receive a $200 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $2 billion in potential milestone payments, in addition to royalties on commercial sales.

ARWR stock rose by 11% at the time of writing, while NVS stock traded marginally in the red. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around ARWR stayed within ‘bearish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume rose to ‘normal’ levels.

Meanwhile, sentiment around NVS stock stayed within ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at ‘high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user believes that Arrowhead getting $200 million upfront for a pre-clinical asset is a “hell of a deal.”

Arrowhead will conduct and complete the necessary preclinical research activities to enable the filing of a clinical trial application for all licensed programs under the agreement. Novartis will then assume sole control over development, manufacturing, medical affairs, and commercialization activities. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

CEO Christopher Anzalone stated that the company looks forward to beginning clinical trials for ARO-SNCA “as soon as possible.” Both ARWR stock and NVS stock is up by about 30% this year. 

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