RXi Pharmaceuticals Announces the Departure of Dr. Alexey Eliseev as Chief Business Officer

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: RXII), a clinical-stage RNAi company developing innovative therapeutics that address significant unmet medical needs, announced today the departure of Dr. Alexey Eliseev, Chief Business Officer of the Company, effective immediately. Dr. Eliseev, former CEO of MirImmune Inc., joined RXi on January 6, 2017 as Chief Business Officer of RXi Pharmaceuticals in connection with the Company's acquisition of MirImmune. MirImmune was a privately-held company developing cell-based therapeutics for cancer treatments based on a license to RXi's proprietary self-delivering RNAi technology. In his role as Chief Business Officer of RXi, Dr. Eliseev was responsible for the integration of this new therapeutic approach into the activities of RXi Pharmaceuticals, and for introducing the Company to several key industry and academic groups active in this emerging field.

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Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh, President and CEO of RXi Pharmaceuticals stated that, "The Company would like to thank Dr. Eliseev for his support in integrating MirImmune into our Company's day-to-day activities, and for providing RXi exposure to some of the key players in this new and exciting space." He added that, "We wish Dr. Eliseev well in his new entrepreneurial initiatives."

The Company also announced that Dr. James Cardia, RXi's current Director of Business Development and Intellectual Property will take over the management of the various ongoing activities in partnering and business development.  During his tenure at RXi, Dr. Cardia's group was responsible for the discovery and optimization of "self-delivering" rxRNAs (sd-rxRNAs®) as well as the development and characterization of RXI-109, a promising anti-fibrotic agent currently in clinical trials for the treatment of both dermal and retinal scarring. He has participated in multiple out-licensing, in-licensing and acquisition deals and has contributed to numerous publications and patent applications.  Dr. Cardia has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston College and received postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

On August 10, 2017, the Company reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, and provided a business update.  As noted in that press release and related transcript, the Company remains on track with its expected read-outs for several of its ongoing programs in immuno-oncology, dermatology and ophthalmology. 

About RXi Pharmaceuticals

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: RXII) is a clinical-stage company developing innovative therapeutics that address significant unmet medical needs.  Building on the pioneering discovery of RNAi, scientists at RXi have harnessed the naturally occurring RNAi process which can be used to "silence" or down-regulate the expression of a specific gene that may be overexpressed in a disease condition.  RXi developed a robust RNAi therapeutic platform, including self-delivering RNA (sd-rxRNA®) compounds, that have the ability to highly selectively block the expression of any target in the genome, thus providing applicability to many therapeutic areas. Our current programs include dermatology, ophthalmology, and cell-based immunotherapy.  RXi's extensive patent portfolio provides for multiple product and business development opportunities across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, and we actively pursue research collaborations, partnering and out-licensing opportunities with academia and pharmaceutical companies.  For additional information, visit the Company's website, www.rxipharma.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements

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 ability to successfully develop RXI-109, Samcyprone™ 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
508-929-3646

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SOURCE RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation