IPO Filing: Xenon Pharmaceuticals

By Chris Lange Published Sep 10, 9:40AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO). No terms were given for the offering, but it is valued up to $51.75 million. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol XENE. Underwriters for the offering were initially listed as Jefferies and Wells Fargo.

Xenon is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops differentiated therapeutics for orphan indications. The core enabling discovery platform is focused on studying rare human diseases with extreme traits, including diseases caused by mutations in ion channels, known as channelopathies. The Extreme Genetics discovery platform yielded the first approved gene therapy product in the European Union.

Pharmaceutical partners include Teva Genentech and Merck (through its affiliate, Essex Chemie). These collaborations have aggregately generated more than $140 million in non-equity funding to date, with the potential to provide more than $1.0 billion in future milestone payments, as well as royalties and co-promotion income on product sales.

The company’s most advanced product candidate is TV-45070 (formerly XEN402). Teva is currently conducting a 300-patient, randomized Phase 2b clinical trial of TV-45070 in osteoarthritis of the knee. The company is currently planning additional development of TV-45070 in neuropathic pain indications.

At the end of June 2014, Xenon has cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $44.7 million, which excludes an $8 million milestone payment it received in August 2014 from Genentech. Over the next 24 months, Xenon looks to potentially gain $40.5 million in milestone payments, including the $8 million from Genentech.

The company had its last equity financing in 2006.

Xenon has plans for use of the proceeds from this offering but has not listed definite amounts. It plans on devoting money to the preclinical and early development of its Dravet Syndrome and XEN801 programs and to further fund the genetic research and drug discovery activities using its Extreme Genetics Platform.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.