On Feb 5, 2015 shares of Rxi Pharmaceuticals (RXII) went up 5% after the company had announced that it had completed acquiring the rights to Samcyrpone - gel formulation of diphenylcyclopropenone or DPCP -- from a privately-held pharmaceutical company known as Hapten Inc.

According to the deal, Hapten will receive an upfront payment of $100,000 and 200,000 shares of Rxi's common stock. In addition Hapten will also receive clinical and commercial milestones as Samcyprone progresses further.

This was a good deal because Rxi didn't have to give up a lot to get Samcyprone and now it has an immunotherapy type gel that treats a couple of different diseases. As mentioned above, Samcyprone is a topical gel. The way that Samcyrpone works is that it acts as an immunomodulator that activates T-cells in the body to fight certain diseases. Think of Samcyprone as an immunotherapy drug but instead of being in pill form it is in a gel form. Rxi can now complete one of the phase 2a trials for Samcyprone targeting metastatic melanoma -- skin cancer  -- and the other phase 2a trial targeting alopecia areata -- disease of baldness. Phase 2a trials for Samcyprone targeting warts has already been completed by Hapten. 

Rxi expects to start phase 2b trials for all three indications listed above by the year 2016. These new trials give the company access to a lot of other mid-stage trials boosting the value of the company. Rxi has also reduced its risk by adding more drugs to its pipeline and will possibly be able to partner one of these drugs out for non-dilutive cash. Lastly, Rxi's CEO Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh has stated that the company should be able to create new sd-rxRNA targets from Samcyprone, specifically targeting immunological disorders like various types of skin disorders and other types of systemic diseases.