Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:XENE) stock was falling hard on Friday following results from a recent study of its acne drug XEN801.
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc has reported that a Phase 2 clinical trial of XEN801 didn’t meet its primary endpoints. The study’s goal was to determine the efficacy, safety, tolerability and systemic exposure of the drug for treating facial acne.
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc notes that XEN801 didn’t produce noticeable differences when compared to a placebo after 12 weeks of use. It also says that the drug didn’t meet its secondary endpoints either. However, the company does note that there were no adverse side effects from using the drug.
“Despite the good scientific and preclinical rationale to pursue SCD1 as a novel acne target, the topline clinical results do not support this hypothesis or the continued development of XEN801,” Dr. Simon Pimstone, President and CEO of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc, said in a statement “While we are disappointed that XEN801 did not demonstrate efficacy in the treatment of acne, we have a broad, diversified pipeline of small molecule ion channel modulators based on targets with high human validation that we continue to advance.”
Pimestone says that while the company is ditching development of its acne drug, it still has other milestones to look forward to. This includes a Phase 2b clinical trial of TV-45070, an investigational new drug application for its epilepsy drug XEN901 and more.
XENE stock was down 52% as of Friday afternoon.
