RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp. has entered into a research collaboration with Iovance Biotherapeutics to evaluate potential synergies with RXi’s novel sd-rxRNA therapeutic compounds and Iovance’s autologous cell therapy based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for the use in the treatment of cancer.

The companies will further investigate and expand the recently published data with TIL and sd-rxRNA products, which demonstrated potentially enhanced tumor killing activity of TIL.

Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh, president and chief executive officer of RXi Pharmaceuticals, said, “Iovance is the leading company developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology. Our agreement will allow Iovance to explore their TIL technology and our sd-rxRNA technology. As such, we may be able to improve potency of the TIL product and also possibly broaden the applicability of TIL in other tumors types. We see this new research collaboration with the highly experienced Iovance team using TIL, as a major step to advance life-saving treatment approaches for solid tumors, a space where there is still a dire need for improved therapies for these patients.”