Xenon today announced a strategic alliance with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to discover and develop compounds and companion diagnostics for the potential treatment of pain.
"We are delighted to be collaborating with Genentech," said Simon Pimstone, President and CEO of Xenon. "Genentech is among the world's leading biotech companies and an ideal strategic partner for Xenon as we share a common emphasis on using human genetics for drug development. Further, this collaboration allows Xenon to both deepen and broaden our pipeline of novel medicines in development." Xenon and Genentech will collaborate on the discovery of new therapeutic approaches for treating pain. Under the terms of the agreement, Genentech has an exclusive license to compounds and a non-exclusive license to diagnostics from Xenon for development and commercialization of products. Xenon will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, research funding and is eligible to receive research, development and commercialization milestone payments, totaling up to $646 million for multiple products and indications. In addition, Xenon will receive royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.
Michael Hayden, CSO of Xenon added: "This new alliance, which represents our sixth partnership with a major pharmaceutical company to date, once again highlights the keen interest in Xenon's unique genetics approach and in our translational R&D capabilities."