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news.Canada-based Xenon Pharmaceuticals has entered into a new collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to discover and validate new therapeutic targets and mechanisms for treating pain.
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The deal leverages Xenon’s Extreme Genetics discovery platform to focus on rare phenotypes where individuals have an inability to perceive pain or where individuals have non-precipitated spontaneous severe pain.
The new deal builds on the strategic alliance formed between the two companies in 2012 for the discovery and development of compounds and companion diagnostics for the potential treatment of pain.
Xenon president and chief executive officer Simon Pimstone said with this new collaboration, the company has the opportunity to apply its expertise in pain genetics and insights into the biology of pain more broadly, and build on its highly productive strategic alliance with Genentech.
"We believe the pain market is currently underserved and represents a significant commercial opportunity for our company," Pimstone said.
"We look forward to working further with Genentech to seek to discover additional highly validated targets that could yield novel non-opioid based mechanisms to treat pain."
Pursuant to the terms of the new deal, both the firms will own the intellectual property arising out of the collaboration.
Xenon has also awarded Genentech a time-limited, exclusive right of negotiation on a target-by-target basis to form joint drug discovery collaborations.