Arrowhead increases ownership in Calando's outstanding equity to 79%

Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ARWR) ("the Company") today announced that it has invested $1 million in its majority owned subsidiary, Calando Pharmaceuticals, and converted approximately $8M of Calando debt to Arrowhead into equity. Arrowhead now owns approximately 79% of Calando's outstanding equity.

“We are committed to driving Calando's value by completing the phase 1 trial for CALAA-01 and identifying the best indication for a phase 2 trial, while continuing to build relationships with potential partners”

The investment and the debt conversion follow recent milestones achieved by Calando, including several notable first accomplishments in RNAi technology. These include proof of the first definitive systemic siRNA delivery and first to show RNAi mediated knockdown of target mRNA and protein in humans.

"We are committed to driving Calando's value by completing the phase 1 trial for CALAA-01 and identifying the best indication for a phase 2 trial, while continuing to build relationships with potential partners," said Christopher Anzalone, Arrowhead's CEO. "We remain very excited about our clinical data and Calando's ability to solve the most critical need of RNAi therapeutics, an effective and well tolerated delivery method. As we work to complete the current trial, we remain confident that additional data will better serve our partnering goals given the continued appetite for systemic RNAi delivery supported by solid clinical data."

Pursuant a purchase agreement between Arrowhead and Calando, Arrowhead purchased approximately 60 million shares of preferred stock in Calando for $1 million in cash and the cancellation of $8 million in debt owed to Arrowhead by Calando.