RXi Pharmaceuticals Enters into Material Transfer Agreement with Iovance Biotherapeutics to Study its Self-Delivering RNAi Technology for the Advancement of Immuno-Oncology Therapeutics

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., May 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: RXII) announced today that it has entered into a research collaboration with Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. to evaluate the potential synergies with RXi’s novel sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds and Iovance’s autologous cell therapy based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for the use in the treatment of cancer.

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Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh, President and CEO of RXi Pharmaceuticals, stated: “Iovance is the leading company developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology. Our agreement will allow Iovance to explore their proprietary TIL technology and our proprietary sd-rxRNA technology. Under this research collaboration, we will further investigate and expand the recently published data with TIL and sd-rxRNA products, which demonstrated potentially enhanced tumor killing activity of TIL.” He added that: “As such, we may be able to improve potency of the TIL product and also possibly broaden the applicability of TIL in other tumors types. We see this new research collaboration with the highly experienced Iovance team using TIL, as a major step to advance life-saving treatment approaches for solid tumors, a space where there is still a dire need for improved therapies for these patients.”

About RXi Pharmaceuticals

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: RXII) is a biotechnology company developing the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its self-delivering RNAi (sd-rxRNA®) therapeutic platform. The Company’s discovery and research efforts are focused on developing sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds to be used with an Adoptive Cell Transfer (ACT) approach. This process uses immune cells, such as T-lymphocytes that are isolated from the patient or retrieved from allogeneic immune cell banks, and then expanded and in some cases processed to express tumor-binding receptors. Our approach introduces a new and important step in ex-vivo processing of the immune cells where sd-rxRNA is used to eliminate the expression of immunosuppressive receptors or proteins from the therapeutic immune cells, making them less sensitive to tumor resistance mechanisms and thus improving their ability to destroy the tumor cells. Essentially, we aim to maximize the power of our sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds by weaponizing therapeutic immune effector cells to attack cancer and ultimately provide patients battling terminal cancers with a powerful new treatment option that goes beyond current treatment modalities.

For additional information, visit the Company’s website, www.rxipharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements of RXi Pharmaceuticals

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about: our expectation regarding closing of the offering, our ability to successfully develop RXI-109, Samcyprone™, RXI-762, RXI-804 and our other product candidates (collectively “our product candidates”); the future success of our clinical trials with our product candidates; the timing for the commencement and completion of clinical trials; our ability to enter into strategic partnerships and the future success of these strategic partnerships; and our ability to deploy our sd-rxRNA® technology through partnerships, as well as the prospects of these partnerships to provide positive returns. Forward-looking statements about expectations and development plans of RXi’s product candidates and partnerships involve significant risks and uncertainties, including the following: risks that we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize our product candidates; risks that product development and clinical studies may be delayed, not proceed as planned and/or be subject to significant cost over-runs; risks related to the development and commercialization of products by competitors; risks related to our ability to control the timing and terms of collaborations with third parties; and risks that other companies or organizations may assert patent rights preventing us from developing or commercializing our product candidates. Additional risks are detailed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the caption “Risk Factors.” Readers are urged to review these risk factors and to not act in reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ from those contemplated by our forward-looking statements. RXi does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views, events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.

Contact RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Tamara McGrillen
Tel: +1 508-929-3646
Email: tmcgrillen@rxipharma.com