several histone and non-histone proteins, and it has shown activity in both solid and liquid cancers. “We have three drugs with multiple indications that we’re going after, so it’s a pretty ambitious program,” Mattes says.
All three molecules are in drug classes that are being pursued by many other companies—putting the onus on Mattes and his team to find distinctive and high-value markets for each. “We have to be very creative in determining what the unmet medical needs are, and finding efficient, quick-to-market strategies,” he says.
AR-42, for example, has shown promise in blood cancers, as well as cancers of the bladder, liver, lung, and prostate, Mattes says. But what’s particularly interesting, says Mattes, is that it seems to work in solid tumors that are benign, but still dangerous because of their size or location in the body. “There’s no work being done on benign tumors,” Mattes points out. “The only treatment for those patients is surgery. This would be a substitute for surgery, so we think there would be a real interest on the part of the FDA is seeing something like this go to market.”
Arno is typical of the type of startup Two River pursues. “We identify new and interesting therapeutic techniques that are viable molecules with strong intellectual property,” says Two River partner David Tanen. “And rather than developing single-technology companies, we increase the chance of success by adding to the pipeline.” Like all its portfolio companies, Arno is named after a river—this one in the Tuscany region of Italy.
And Two River partners take a strong management position in all their portfolio companies, which they say allows them to manage risk and negotiate better contracts with consultants and contract research organizations. Two River partner and chairman Arie Belldegrun also serves as the chairman of Arno’s board.
Belldegrun is a urologist whose business experience includes serving as the founding chairman of Cougar Biotechnology, a cancer drug developer that was bought by J&J in 2009 for $970 million. The FDA approved Cougar’s lead product, abiraterone acetate (Zytiga), for prostate cancer this year. The Cougar story is one that Mattes hopes Arno can learn from, with the help of Belldegrun. “Cougar’s management had the wherewithal to take the product into Phase 3,” Mattes says. “They clearly defined the regulatory pathway and the unmet medical need.”
Belldegrun says the key to success is not only finding the most promising molecules, but also in maintaining close relationships between the startups and the academic scientists who discover those drug candidates. The inventors of Arno’s drugs are still involved in the development path, he says. “The notion is that it’s better [for academic scientists] to join with Big Pharma, but Arno has developed a close collaboration with academia,” Belldegrun says. “It’s a partnership that benefits both parties. Decisions are made quickly. There’s no punch list of bureaucracy.”
Arno raised $18 million in 2008 and merged with the shell of a publicly traded company. It now trades over-the-counter (OTCBB: [[ticker:ARNI]]). The company raised a second round of $15 million in 2010.
Mattes says the company will scrutinize data from early trials of its three drugs before it fine-tunes the development paths for each of them. “The datasets will really start to reveal themselves to us in the first half of next year,” Mattes says.
Belldegrun adds that holding several drug candidates that are all showing promise in multiple indications is a “good problem” for Arno. “But it’s a critical stage for the company,” he says. “We don’t want to go into areas where there are already multiple new drugs. We want to find our niche.”
