[From the Worcester Telegram and Gazette]
Scottsdale-based Apthera Inc. has been purchased for $7.2 million by RXi Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts company.
Mark W. Schwartz, Apthera president and CEO, will become chief operating officer of RXi, the companies reported.
RXi is focused on RNA interference, technology that aims to block the activity of genes. The company’s first product under development, RXI-109, aims to reduce surgical scarring.
Acquiring Apthera gives RXi a therapeutic vaccine for cancer called NeuVax that is close to the third and final phase of human testing in breast cancer patients. NeuVax uses a small peptide from a protein expressed by certain tumors to prod the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells.
Apthera’s Robert Kennedy will also join RXi.
The acquisition comes in the wake of RXi’s decision to move from a focus on research into product development.
Read more at the source: “RXi to buy Ariz. firm“