RXi Pharmaceuticals last week reported that its first-quarter net loss swelled 38 percent on rising research and development and general and administrative costs.

For the three-month period ended March 31, RXi's net loss climbed to $4.2 million, or $0.30 per share, from a year-ago loss of $2.6 million, or $0.21 per share.

R&D expenses in the quarter jumped roughly 27 percent, to $1.4 million from $1.1 million, primarily due to higher employee compensation costs and legal expenses related to patent applications filed on internal inventions, RXi said.