Xenon is a privately held company located in Vancouver and has just over 70 employees.

We are a leader in clinical genetic based drug discovery and development and have built a worldwide network of over 40 clinical collaborators to find and access the rare families with diseases of relevance to drug discovery. Our clinical genetic approaches are:

• Extreme Genetics TM: the analysis of rare families that have multiple cases of a severe (extreme) clinical picture of a common disease with unmet medical need.
• Opposite Phenotype: the analysis of rare genetic disorders, which have the opposite clinical features to a common disease.
• Genetically Modified Models: Xenon creates novel in vivo models representative of human disease through utilizing loss-of-function (knockout) and over-expression (transgenic) strategies.

We have a pipeline of novel small molecule drugs against targets we have clinically validated in genetic studies. Through adopting ‘best practices’ from both traditional pharmaceutical as well as modern biotechnology, Xenon has built an integrated and effective platform to support our drug development products, which are described below. 

XEN401 for Pain is an innovative and potent analgesic with broad utilities for inflammatory, neuropathic, post-surgical and muscular pain. Proof of concept human trials for XEN401 are expected to be initiated during 2007. XEN401, in preclinical efficacy studies, appears to have a superior profile compared with gold standards, and without observable CNS or CVD liabilities. Select rights for Japan and certain Asian countries have been licensed to Takeda. Xenon has advanced XEN401 into Phase I clinical development.

SCD1 for Obesity, Xenon is pioneering a novel approach through the development of small molecule drugs inhibiting SCD1 for the treatment of obesity.  We found that in vivo knockouts of the SCD1 gene are lean, have reduced triglycerides and increased insulin sensitivity: the opposite phenotype to obesity and metabolic syndrome. We have also correlated decreased SCD1 activity with reduced obesity and reduced cardiovascular risk profile in several human populations. Our SCD1 inhibitor program is being actively pursued in partnership with Novartis Pharma AG.

DMT1 for Iron Overload, Xenon is developing small molecule inhibitors against DMT1 as a treatment for iron overload disorders. Genetic studies of DMT1 have demonstrated its essential role in iron uptake and we have observed in vivo efficacy for our small molecule inhibitors of DMT1, which are at the lead optimization phase.

HJV Inhibitors for Anemia of Inflammation, Xenon discovered through genetic studies in humans HjV as a protein that plays an important role in the regulation and availability of iron for efficient red blood cell production. Xenon in partnership with Roche is actively pursuing protein inhibitors of HjV.

Xenon’s small molecule inhibitors of our genetically defined targets have all shown in vivo efficacy in "gold standard" pre-clinical models, and excellent safety data. This foundation supports our clinical approach to drug development, and further validation has come from our significant partnerships with the top-tier pharmaceutical companies. Xenon has advanced XEN401 into phase I clinical development.