Xenon with it's partner Novartis Pharma AG is pioneering a novel approach for the treatment of metabolic disorders through the development of small molecule inhibitors of SCD1 enzyme. We showed that knockouts of the SCD1 gene are lean, have reduced triglycerides and increase insulin sensitivity, essentially the opposite phenotype to metabolic syndrome. We have also shown that a decrease in SCD1 enzyme activity is correlated with reduced obesity and favourable cardiovascular lipid profiles in human populations.