Arête Therapeutics Inc. discovers and develops first-in-class small molecule drugs directed at a novel target for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Arête initiated a phase 1 clinical trial for its lead compound AR9281 in October 2007. In addition, the company has developed a series of proprietary and chemically diverse back-up and expanded profile molecules with preclinical efficacy in various animal models of hypertension, metabolic syndrome and inflammation.