Brisbane, Australia. 04 March 2010: Xenome Limited (“Xenome”) today announced that the Japanese Patent Office has issued patent number 4447783, entitled “Novel Peptides”. This patent relates to a novel class of norepinephrine transporter (NET) inhibitors and adds to the company’s extensive intellectual property portfolio surrounding chi-conopeptides and analogues.

Xenome has already been granted patent protection for this family of NET inhibitors (which includes the company’s lead product, Xen2174) in USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Japanese patent now extends Xenome’s proprietary position for Xen2174 to all major pharmaceutical markets. 

Xen2174 has shown promise as a new class of pain therapeutic and is currently in clinical development for the treatment of moderate to severe pain in acute and chronic pain indications.  
 
Xenome currently retains all development and commercialization rights for Xen2174.

Xenome is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide-based therapeutics.  Utilising its expertise in peptide chemistry and its novel technology platform, Xenome translates the evolutionary advantages inherent in venom peptides into new drug candidates.
 
The Company's lead product, Xen2174, is a novel conopeptide analogue for the treatment of moderate to severe pain.  Xen2174 is a non-competitive inhibitor of norepinephrine transporter (NET), a validated target for the management of pain.  In an international phase I/II clinical trial in cancer patients, a single intrathecal administration of Xen2174 was found to be safe and well-tolerated across a broad dose range.  In addition, the study provided evidence for an analgesic effect that had a rapid onset of action and was long-lasting.
 
Xenome's discovery platform is based on proprietary libraries of venom peptides, analogues and mimetics.  Research license agreements are in place with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMLN) and MedImmune LLC (the biologics unit of AstraZeneca), each of which have access to Xenome’s xdiscoverTM library for specific indications or targets.