RXi Pharmaceuticals Announces Remarkable and Positive Results with its Novel Self-Delivering RNAi Platform: Potent Reduction of Long Non-coding RNAs Demonstrated in Collaboration with Biogazelle

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation

today announced positive results from a collaboration with Biogazelle NV.  Biogazelle is a company with a longstanding track record and internationally recognized expertise in RNA gene expression analysis, with a particular focus on non-coding RNA, such as microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA).    Specifically-designed sd-rxRNAs based on RXi's proprietary, self-delivering RNAi platform demonstrated robust and potent reduction of the levels of lncRNAs in a target specific manner. These findings expand the number of potential genes RXi is capable of targeting by approximately four fold.  Dr. Craig Mello, Chairman of RXi Pharmaceuticals' Scientific Advisory Board and co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for RNAi, said that, "This discovery is a significant advancement for RXi's proprietary self-delivering RNA platform.  lncRNAs represent a diverse class of promising therapeutic targets. Currently, researchers must use multiple oligonucleotide platforms to reduce expression of lncRNAs depending on the subcellular localization of the target. Biogazelle's findings suggest that RXi's technology can efficiently silence lncRNAs regardless of their subcellular localization." lncRNAs are a diverse class of non-protein coding