RXi Licenses Rights to RNAi Sequences to Genes for Therapeutic Applications from Thermo Scientific

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RXi) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. to exclusively license certain RNA interference (RNAi) sequences to an undisclosed number of target genes, with an initial focus in the areas of type 2 diabetes, obesity, neurology and oncology, for the ongoing development of RXi’s rxRNA™ compounds.

The RNAi sequences selected against the target genes were generated by the company’s Thermo Scientific Dharmacon proprietary RNAi sequence selection algorithm and include approximately 100 functional RNAi sequences per gene.

RXi obtained the right to license, under the same terms, additional RNAi sequences disclosed by Thermo Fisher Scientific in its pending patent applications against additional target genes. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“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,” said Dr. Tod Woolf, President and Chief Executive Officer of RXi.