RXi Pharmaceuticals (RXII) announced today that is has obtained an exclusive global licensing deal for a phase 2 ready product known as Samcyprone. RXi is licensing the drug from Hapten Pharmaceuticals, LLC. Under the terms of the Agreement RXi will obtain patent rights and assets. In exchange for RXi obtaining Samcyprone the company will be expected to make an upfront payment to Hapten upon closing the deal in early 2015. Hapten will also receive shares of RXi along with future milestone payments and royalties based on product sales.
Samcyprone is an immunomodulator that initiates a T-cell response in a patient's body. Samcyprone is a gel formulation of diphenylcyclopropenone — DCPC. This deal is a good fit for RXi because Samcyprone's main function is to alter the genetic expressions of diseases. Therefore there is great synergy between RXi's sd-rxRNA technology platform and Samcyprone itself. Matter in fact the sd-rxRNA delivery platform would greatly enhance Samcyprone's efficacy. Samcyprone has already completed phase 2a testing against viral warts with a great safety profile. Current phase 2a clinical trials of Samcyprone in Melanoma and alopecia areata are underway.
Melanoma is the most severe form of skin cancer and alopecia areata deals with round patches of hair loss. The company can now expand its pipeline to target skin cancer, viral warts of the body, and alopecia areata. This news comes one day after RXi reported a continued confirmation that RXI-109 is still working against hypertrophic scars in study 1301 three months after scar revision surgery. In addition RXi reported that is had completed recruitment for the phase 2a 1301 study.
The company has a multitude of clinical targets in pre-clinical development and clinical testing. We believe that RXi continues to build shareholder value by targeting new diseases that are known to have a larger market opportunity. We believe that with the results shown to date, including the phase 2a update, this provides an excellent buy opportunity for a growing biotechnology company. There is a conference coming up in Jan 2015 and typically the company displays the progress of RXI-109 with pictures. So there may possibly be updated pictures coming up that will clearly show the efficacy of RXI-109 compared to placebo against hypertrophic scars. Other clinical results from the pipeline should come sometime in early 2015 which should provide a boost to the share price pending positive results.
