People with dangerously high blood fats got encouraging study news Saturday: Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals said its drug plozasiran sharply reduced attacks of acute pancreatitis, a painful and sometimes life-threatening condition, in a new analysis of two large studies.
The company presented the data at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026 in Chicago, according to its release.
Fewer pancreas attacks
The two studies randomized 757 adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia, very high triglycerides, to plozasiran or a placebo, injected once every three months. Across the pooled population, plozasiran reduced the rate of confirmed acute pancreatitis events by 78% versus placebo. Among patients who had suffered pancreatitis within five years before the study, the event rate fell 91%.
Side effects occurred in 73% of patients in both the drug and placebo groups, the company said. Serious side effects occurred in 8.3% of plozasiran patients and 10% of placebo patients, while worsening blood-sugar control was reported in 14% and 8.7% respectively.
An early two-in-one drug
Arrowhead also presented the first results for ARO-DIMER-PA, an experimental single molecule designed to lower both LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, in patients with mixed hyperlipidemia. In the early Phase 1/2a study, 21 participants received single doses of the drug and 10 received placebo. LDL cholesterol fell by a mean of 26% to 65% from baseline, and triglycerides fell by a median of 56% to 78% from baseline, depending on dose; those changes are measured from each patient’s starting point and are not adjusted against placebo.
No serious adverse events were reported in that study. The most common side effect was redness at the injection site.
JBizNews Desk | Pasadena, California
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