Azetukalner

Toronto, Ontario--(News - September 29, 2026) - Bloom Burton & Co. ("Bloom Burton") is pleased to announce Ian Mortimer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xenon Pharmaceuticals, as the recipient of the 2026 Bloom Burton Award. 2026 Bloom Burton Award Winner Ian Mortimer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xenon Pharmaceuticals To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: In the past year, Ian Mortimer lead Xenon through an incredible period of performance, including unprecedented and positive phase 3 clinical trial results with Xenon's novel epilepsy treatment Azetukalner in adults with focal onset seizures, the filing of a new drug application with the U.S. FDA, and the execution of a US$747.5 million follow-on financing, which is the largest equity offering by a Canadian biotechnology company in history. "It was joyful to celebrate the phenomenal achievements of Ian Mortimer and the success of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in just the past year at the 2026 Bloom Burton Award Gala," said Jolyon Burton, President and Head of Investment Banking of Bloom Burton. "What a privilege to commemorate the achievements of all our finalists, and to acknowledge the growth and global contribution of our Canadian healthcare industry, positively impacting millions of people." Bestowed annually, the Bloom Burton Award honours an individual scientist, inventor, executive, entrepreneur, industry leader, or policy maker who made the greatest contribution to Canada's innovative healthcare industry in the previous year. Nominations were accepted from any of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic/imaging, research instrumentation, consumer health, services or digital health sectors, and equal consideration was given to contributions across any stage of development - from discovery to commercial-end markets. The Bloom Burton Award finalists and winner were chosen by an esteemed panel of judges, all of whom are respected international leaders in healthcare investment, entrepreneurship and journalism. This year's panel included: Michael Altman , Head of Strategy, Perceptive Advisors Christopher Arendt , Chief Scientific Officer, Head of Research, Takeda Karen Bernstein , Co-Founder and Chairman, BioCentury Joan Eliasek , President, North American Pharmaceutical Distribution, McKesson Carl Gordon , Managing Partner, OrbiMed Dennis Purcell , Founder and Senior Advisor, Aisling Capital Camille Samuels , Director, Venrock Boards All finalists - Ian Mortimer, Graham Rosenberg and Nate Tchaplia of Dentalcorp, and Ilia Tikhomirov formerly of 35Pharma - were celebrated at the black-tie 2026 Bloom Burton Award Gala held at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto on September 24, 2026. Each finalist also received a $25,000 cash prize. For more information, please visit: . About Bloom Burton & Co. Bloom Burton & Co. is a firm dedicated to accelerating returns in the healthcare sector for both investors and companies. Bloom Burton has an experienced team of medical, scientific, industry and capital markets professionals who perform a deep level of diligence, which combined with our creative and entrepreneurial approach, assists our clients in achieving the right monetization events. Bloom Burton and its affiliates provide capital raising, M&A advisory, equity research, strategic advisory, as well as company creation and incubation services. Bloom Burton Securities Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and is also a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). For additional information, please contact: Brian Bloom Chairman & CEO (416) 640-7575 bbloom@bloomburton.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit

Dive Brief:Shares of high-flying Xenon Pharmaceuticals fell by as much as 30% Friday morning following an announcement that it has paused enrollment in trials evaluating its lead drug in people with depression. Called azetukalner, the medicine is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration for a type of seizure disorder.Vancouver, Canada-based Xenon said it stopped recruitment following the appearance of neuropsychiatric adverse events that werent seen in earlier testing in depression. The trials will continue with the currently enrolled population and produce data in early 2027.Xenons valuation had swelled to more than $5 billion on the progress of azetukalner, a drug thats made the company a top acquisition candidate to some Wall Street analysts. The stock sell-off indicates investors are now discounting any chance of success in depression, but several analysts argued in published notes that the FDA probably wont be as concerned about the adverse events in epilepsy patients.Dive Insight:Xenon said the unspecified adverse events were consistent with azetukalners known safety profile and mechanism, but didnt appear in a Phase 2 depression study. Exposing the therapy to many more patients in a larger Phase 3 study may have been the reason those effects materialized, the company said.On a call with analysts, Xenon executives noted that the events were mild to moderate in nature, short in duration, and reversible, wrote William Blair analyst Myles Minter. Moreover, the company emphasized in its release that the pause should be temporary and it will look at potential dosing modifications to help mitigate these adverse events.The ongoing X-NOVA2 trial in major depressive disorder has enrolled 80% of the necessary patients to be able to detect a clinically meaningful benefit, Xenon said.The news about the depression trial pause came alongside an announcement that the FDA had begun reviewing azetukalner in focal seizures, which affect one side of the body. Investors had been encouraged by pivotal data in that disorder, which exceeded expectations and led to a run-up in share price.Executives remain very confident in the product profile of azetukalner in epilepsy because of strong efficacy and safety data and a consistent safety profile across over 1,500 patient-years of data, said Chris Kenney, Xenons chief medical officer, in a statement.Analysts argued that the safety findings in depression should have no impact on the FDA review because other approved and widely used epilepsy drugs carry the risk of even more serious side effects. Some depression drugs, too, have gotten to market despite an association with tough side effects.Still, Xenon shares sank to levels last seen before the epilepsy data were released, prompting TD Cowen analyst Joseph Thome to describe the sell-off as overdone. RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams concurred, estimating that in epilepsy, azetukalner could achieve $1.7 billion in annual sales, and writing in a client note, we would be buyers on any weakness in the share price. '