Xenon Pharmaceuticals Initiates a Phase 2 Clinical Trial in Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) for Topical XEN402

Vancouver, Canada (August 17, 2010)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that it has initiated a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating its novel topical XEN402 therapy for the treatment of PHN.

XEN402 has been developed by Xenon as a topical ointment formulation and recently concluded a 21-day cumulative dose safety and tolerability phase 1 study in normal human volunteers. The product was well tolerated and achieved good drug concentrations in the skin. Topical XEN402 is being developed by Xenon for painful neuropathic disorders such as PHN and targets the sodium channel sub-type Nav1.7. This target is highly expressed in sensory nerve endings and its expression has been shown to be up-regulated in chronic painful conditions such as PHN.

Click here to read Xenon's news release.