(Corrects brokerage rating in headline and paragraph one to 'market outperform' from 'market perform')
Dec 21 (Reuters) - Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp with a 'market outperform' rating, saying the biopharmaceutical company could eventually become one of the few early winners in the RNA-based therapeutics space.
Shares of the company rose as much as 12 percent to $4.60.
The brokerage, which set a price target of $8 on the company, said RXi possesses the unique combination of singular focus on RNAi, top notch scientific advisers, and expertise in the development of RNA-based therapeutics.
The company's co-founder Dr Craig Mello, who was the co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of RNA interference, is on RXi's scientific advisory board.
'We believe that RXi will be able to attract significant interest for licensing agreements by large pharma partners,' analyst Simos Simeonidis wrote in a research note.
The area of drug development known as RNAi, or RNA interference, is based on manipulating ribonucleic acid and seen as having the potential to produce promising treatments for a number of diseases, including cancer.
Shares of the company, partly owned by drugmaker CytRx Corp , were up 7 percent at $4.39 in morning trade on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $4.60 earlier in the session.
(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy) Keywords: RXI/RESEARCH RODMAN (shailesh.kuber@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shailesh.kuber.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Dec 21 (Reuters) - Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp with a 'market outperform' rating, saying the biopharmaceutical company could eventually become one of the few early winners in the RNA-based therapeutics space.
Shares of the company rose as much as 12 percent to $4.60.
The brokerage, which set a price target of $8 on the company, said RXi possesses the unique combination of singular focus on RNAi, top notch scientific advisers, and expertise in the development of RNA-based therapeutics.
The company's co-founder Dr Craig Mello, who was the co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of RNA interference, is on RXi's scientific advisory board.
'We believe that RXi will be able to attract significant interest for licensing agreements by large pharma partners,' analyst Simos Simeonidis wrote in a research note.
The area of drug development known as RNAi, or RNA interference, is based on manipulating ribonucleic acid and seen as having the potential to produce promising treatments for a number of diseases, including cancer.
Shares of the company, partly owned by drugmaker CytRx Corp , were up 7 percent at $4.39 in morning trade on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $4.60 earlier in the session.
(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy) Keywords: RXI/RESEARCH RODMAN (shailesh.kuber@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shailesh.kuber.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.