RXi licenses RNAi

WORCESTER, Mass.—RXi Pharmaceuticals, a fully owned subsidiary of CytRx, announced it signed an exclusive licensing deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific for certain RNAi sequences for an undisclosed number of target genes. To be incorporated into RXi's growing portfolio of rxRNA compounds, the sequences will be focused on therapeutic areas such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, neurology, and oncology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

The RNAi sequences arose from Thermo Fisher's Dharmacon division, which applied a sequence selection algorithm to generate approximately 100 RNAi sequences per target gene. RXi also has the right to license other RNAi sequences developed at Dharmacon against additional target genes.

 

"Licensing RNAi sequences is consistent with our strategy of building a portfolio of RNAi patents and proprietary rxRNA compounds for the discovery of novel therapeutics," explains Dr. Tod Woolf, RXi president and CEO.