Canadian Xenon Pharmaceuticals has formed its sixth major partnership by agreeing to collaborate with Roche’s Genentech on the discovery and development of novel compounds and companion diagnostics for the potential treatment of pain. The agreement is interesting in that Genentech will gain an exclusive licence to compounds and a non-exclusive licence to diagnostics for future development and commercialisation. The deal is potentially worth up to US$646 M to Xenon in research, development and commercialisation milestones for multiple products and indications.