RXi Pharmaceuticals, in which CytRx Corporation holds a 45% stake, has signed an agreement with the University of Massachusetts Medical School for an exclusive worldwide license to certain technology for the oral delivery of RNAi therapeutics. RXi Pharmaceuticals is a discovery-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing the development and commercialization of proprietary therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi) for the treatment of human diseases. This new agreement expands the delivery options and aids in delivery of RNAi therapies.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with RNAi, it is a naturally occurring mechanism for the regulation of gene expression that has the potential to be harnessed to selectively inhibit the activity of any human gene. It is believed that this inhibition may potentially treat human diseases by “turning-off” genes that lead to disease. Basically it’s like creating drugs specifically for YOU. We all know that everyone has different interactions with drugs. But now with drugs catered for RNAi, those problems can be overcome.
Tod Woolf, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of RXi Pharmaceuticals, commented, “The development of technology that potentially enables oral delivery represents a truly dramatic advance for the field of RNAi therapeutics, and could open up significant market opportunities for RXi. We view this license as a major step toward our goal of developing such drugs as it allows us to potentially target a new class of cells that cannot be accessed either by traditional RNAi delivery methods, local administration or injection. Since some of the most advanced and successful anti-inflammatory drugs currently on the market require injection, an orally administered RNAi compound could have significant competitive advantages for both patients and physicians.”
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