Neurocrine and Xenon join forces on epilepsy treatment

US biotech Neurocrine Biosciences (Nasdaq: NBIX) and Canada’s Xenon Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: XENE) today announced a license and collaboration agreement to develop first-in-class treatments for epilepsy that could earn the latter, whose shares leapt 23% pre-market, over $1.7 billion.

Xenon stock was still up 5.7% at $12.50 by mid-morning, while Neurocrine was virtually unchanged.

Under the terms of the deal, Neurocrine gains an exclusive license to XEN901, a clinical-stage selective Nav1.6 sodium channel inhibitor with potential in SCN8A developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (SCN8A-DEE) and other forms of epilepsy, including focal epilepsy. In addition, Neurocrine Biosciences gains an exclusive license to pre-clinical compounds for development, including selective Nav1.6 inhibitors and dual Nav1.2/1.6 inhibitors. The agreement also includes a multi-year research collaboration to discover, identify and develop additional novel Nav1.6 and Nav1.2/1.6 inhibitors.

Kevin Gorman, chief executive of Neurocrine, commented: "The agreement with Xenon strengthens Neurocrine Biosciences' diverse and growing pipeline and reinforces our long-term commitment of becoming a leading neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company."