Healthcare Industry News:  fast track designation 

Biopharmaceuticals Personnel

 News Release - June 26, 2007

CytRx RNAi Subsidiary, RXi Pharmaceuticals, Names Dmitry Samarsky, Ph.D., as Vice President of Technology Development

Engages an Opinion Leader in the Field of RNAi

LOS ANGELES--(HSMN NewsFeed)--CytRx Corporation's (NASDAQ:CYTR ) majority-owned subsidiary, RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RXi) today announced that Dmitry Samarsky, Ph.D., has joined RXi as Vice President of Technology Development. Dr. Samarsky has authored one dozen review articles and book chapters in the field of RNAi and is routinely quoted in major publications including Nature, Science and Fortune magazines. Over the past five years, he has presented at and served as an advisor for numerous academic and industry trade RNAi conferences.


"Dr. Samarsky brings RXi unmatched experience in the development and licensing of RNAi technologies," said Tod Woolf, Ph.D., RXi's President and CEO. "Dr. Samarsky will lead efforts to expand our RNAi-based therapeutics platform and promote our leading programs to major biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies."

Most recently, Dr. Samarsky served as Director of Technology Development at Dharmacon, Inc., one of the world's leading RNAi technology providers, where his team was responsible for promoting Dharmacon's RNAi program worldwide. In addition, he established and led an RNAi applications laboratory. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Samarsky served as Business Development Manager at Invitrogen Corporation, a world-leading biomedical research manufacturing company, where he focused on promoting RNAi and other genomics technologies. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Samarsky worked in business development at the RNAi company Sequitur, Inc., playing a critical role in that firm's acquisition by Invitrogen.

Dr. Samarsky earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1998. From 1998 to 2001 he was the H. Arthur Smith Fellow for Cancer Research at the laboratory of Dr. Michael Green, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

About CytRx Corporation

CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in the development of high-value human therapeutics. The Company owns three clinical-stage compounds based on its small molecule "molecular chaperone" co-induction technology. In September 2006, CytRx announced that arimoclomol was shown to be safe and well tolerated at all three doses tested in its Phase IIa clinical trial in patients with ALS. The Company expects to announce results of its completed open-label extension trial this week. The Company plans to enter a Phase IIb clinical trial with arimoclomol in ALS in the second half of 2007, subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. The FDA has granted fast track designation and Orphan Drug status to arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS and has also been granted orphan medicinal product status for the treatment of ALS by the European Commission. The Company has announced plans to commence a Phase II clinical trial for arimoclomol in stroke recovery in the first half of 2008, subject to FDA clearance. The Company has also announced plans to commence a Phase II clinical trial with its next drug candidate, iroxanadine, for diabetic foot ulcers in the first half of 2008, subject to FDA clearance. In addition, the Company plans to open a research and development facility in San Diego in the third quarter of 2007. For more information on the Company, visit www.cytrx.com.

About RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Worcester, Massachusetts-based RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a majority-owned subsidiary of CytRx, is a biopharmaceutical research and development company that focuses on developing RNAi-based therapeutics for the treatment of human disease. RXi's initial focus is on neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, type 2 diabetes and obesity. RXi has licenses to a diverse series of early patents and patent applications that were filed from 1998 to 2006 in the areas of RNAi target sequences, RNAi chemistry and RNAi delivery. The Company was founded by CytRx and RNAi pioneers Craig Mello, Ph.D., 2006 Nobel Laureate for discovering RNAi and inventing RNAi therapeutics, Tariq M. Rana, Ph.D., inventor of fundamental technology for stabilizing RNAi and of RNAi nanotransporters, Greg Hannon, Ph.D., discoverer of RNAi mechanism (RISC) and short hairpin RNAi (shRNAi), and Michael Czech, Ph.D., a leader in the application of RNAi to diabetes and obesity. RXi's CEO, Tod Woolf, Ph.D., previously co-invented and commercialized STEALTH(TM) RNAi, one of the most widely used second-generation RNAi research products.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements (statements as to matters other than historical facts) as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward looking statements. Examples of such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, RXi's need to raise significant capital to fund operations and development of its potential products, intense competition with other companies focused on RNAi and other larger companies with RNAi programs and with other existing or new therapeutic modalities, the early stage of development of RXi's technology, and the scope, timing and outcome of pre-clinical and clinical testing and regulatory review of RXi's potential products. Additional risks or uncertainties are described in CytRx's most recently filed SEC documents, such as its most recent annual report on Form 10-K, all quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and any current reports on Form 8-K filed since the date of the last Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to CytRx on the date the statements are first published. CytRx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


Source: CytRx

Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.



FindReps - Find Great Medical Independent Sales Reps without recruiter fees.
FindReps - available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad.