Novartis has inked a $200 million upfront licensing agreement with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to develop ARO-SNCA, an RNA interference therapy targeting alpha-synuclein for Parkinson’s disease and related synucleinopathies. The collaboration, potentially exceeding $2.2 billion with milestones and royalties, aims to leverage Arrowhead’s proprietary TRiM platform for faster and lower-risk development of RNAi therapeutics. Novartis gains global rights to develop and commercialize preclinical programs, with Arrowhead handling preclinical work before handing off to Novartis for clinical progression. This broad alliance also allows Novartis to select additional targets to exploit Arrowhead’s delivery technology. The deal marks Novartis’s renewed commitment to RNAi in CNS disorders amid challenges in Parkinson’s drug development.