RXi Pharmaceuticals Appoints H. Paul Dorman and Curtis Lockshin, Ph.D. to Board of Directors

RXi Pharmaceuticals Appoints H. Paul Dorman and Curtis Lockshin, Ph.D. to Board of Directors

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (OTC: RXII), a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies addressing major unmet medical needs using RNA-targeted technologies, today announced that H. Paul Dorman and Curtis Lockshin, Ph.D. have been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Dorman and Dr. Lockshin both bring significant industry experience that will be instrumental to supporting RXi's growth and development initiatives.

"Mr. Dorman is one of the remarkable icons in the healthcare industry and we are thrilled to have him join our Board"
Mr. Dorman brings nearly three decades of executive experience in the pharmaceutical industry with Johnson & Johnson and Baxter, in various leadership roles, to RXi. He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of DFB Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Worth, TX based holding company that, over the last 20 years, has successfully invested in and operated multiple pharmaceutical businesses. In that role, he acquired several companies, three of which were turned around to profitability, from Chapter 11 status at acquisition, and later sold to a large, multi-national, public corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor of Law from Loyola University. "Mr. Dorman is one of the remarkable icons in the healthcare industry and we are thrilled to have him join our Board," said Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh, President and CEO of RXi Pharmaceuticals. He added that, "Paul's experience and network in both the large and small pharma world, as well as his wisdom in leading companies to success, will be major contributing factors to the RXi Board of Directors and the growth of our Company."

Dr. Lockshin comes to RXi providing exceptional industry insight and functional, hands-on experience. Most recently, he has been an Independent Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences Consultant for OPKO Health, Inc. Prior to this role, Dr. Lockshin served as Vice President, Corporate R&D Initiatives for OPKO Health, Inc., with operational responsibilities inside several of OPKO's R&D units. He currently serves as a Director of the Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Foundation, a Duke University Support Corporation. He previously served as a Director of Sorrento Therapeutics and Winston Pharmaceuticals. He initially began his career as a scientist with Sepracor and eventually became the research director responsible for the strategy and operations of Sepracor's new leads initiative. He is a Co-Inventor on several U.S. patents and applications, covering pharmaceuticals, biomaterials, and optics for remote biochemical sensing. Dr. Lockshin holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Dr. Lockshin has an impressive career track record in research and development of new drugs", commented Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh. "With RXi Pharmaceuticals in the midst of a game changing drug in development with RXI-109 for dermal scarring, Curt will provide valuable insights into the development of our drugs. With Paul Dorman and Curt Lockshin joining our current Board members Bob Bitterman and Keith Brownlie, RXi Pharmaceuticals has a well rounded Board of Directors with an appropriate balance of all key elements needed for success."

About RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (OTC: RXII) is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies based on its proprietary, self-delivering RNAi platform. Therapeutics that use RNA interference, or "RNAi," have great promise because of their ability to down-regulate, the expression of a specific gene that may be over-expressed in a disease condition. Building on the pioneering work of scientific founder and Nobel Laureate Dr. Craig Mello, a member of the RXi Scientific Advisory Board, RXi's first RNAi product candidate, RXI-109, which targets CTGF, entered into human clinical development in June 2012. For more information, please visit 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 future expectations, planned and future development of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation's products and technologies. Forward-looking statements about expectations and development plans of RXi's products involve significant risks, and uncertainties: risks that RXi may not be able to successfully develop its candidates, or that development of RNAi-based therapeutics may be delayed or not proceed as planned, or that we may not develop any RNAi-based product; risks that the development process for our product candidates may be delayed, risks related to development and commercialization of products by our competitors, risks related to our ability to control timing and terms of collaborations with third parties, and the possibility that other companies or organizations may assert patent rights preventing us from developing our products. Actual results may differ from those contemplated by these 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.