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Xenon Pharmaceuticals Provides Corporate Update in the Context of COVID-19
BURNABY, British Columbia, March 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:XENE), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today
About this update from Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BURNABY, British Columbia, March 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:XENE), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today provided a corporate update in the context of the developing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.\n Dr. Simon Pimstone, Xenon’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “The safety of Xenon’s employees and their families, as well as the healthcare professionals and patients involved in our clinical studies, is of the utmost importance to us. As we face an unprecedented health system crisis globally, we are focused on doing all we can at Xenon internally, in collaboration with our partners, and in our community to support the collective global public health initiatives to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, we implemented ‘work-from-home’ measures, suspended all non-critical lab work, and ceased non-essential business travel. Within the community in British Columbia, Xenon is in active discussions to assist in building COVID-19 screening capacity and has spearheaded a local initiative to collect Personal Protective Equipment from non-hospital-based research laboratories and collate an inventory of lab equipment useful in COVID-19 testing. Xenon will continue to live by our mission, to put people first, and will continue to do whatever we can, to protect the health and well-being of our staff, their families, and our community.” Dr. Pimstone stated, “Given the rapidly changing environment, we are providing a corporate update on our proprietary and partnered programs. At a high level, it’s important to state that Xenon is in a very sound financial position. We have the benefit of a strong balance sheet and the resources to continue our work during this global public health crisis. Our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were approximately $235 million at the end of February 2020, which we anticipate provides us with sufficient cash to fund operations into 2022. We continue to make prudent business and spending decisions, with the flexibility to extend cash runway further if required, and are confident we have the necessary resources to manage through these unprecedented times.” Dr. Pimstone continued, “Within our XEN1101 ‘X-TOLE’ Phase 2b clinical trial, as with other trials ongoing in our industry, we are seeing a significant reduction in new patient enrollment...