Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has experienced significant growth in operating expenses in recent years. Although that's not unusual for a precommercial drug developer with an ambitious pipeline, this trend is a little more acute for the RNA interference (RNAi) specialist, which offset $948.7 million in R&D expenses by monetizing pipeline assets since 2018.

The well's been a little drier recently. After hauling in $209 million in the first two quarters of fiscal 2023, the drug developer has generated licensing and milestone revenue of only $35 million in the four quarters since. That included just $3.5 million in the fiscal first quarter of 2024, which was the lowest quarterly revenue level in almost six years.

Revenue in the fiscal second quarter of 2024 was even lower – at zero – but investors will see some relief soon. Amgen completed enrollment in a phase 3 clinical trial of cardiometabolic drug candidate olpasiran, which triggered a $50 million cash payment Arrowhead will realize in its current fiscal third quarter.

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