VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Ian C. Mortimer as Chief Financial Officer.<br /><br />"We are delighted to welcome Ian to the Xenon team," said Dr. Simon Pimstone, Xenon's President and CEO. "Ian brings a combination of strong financial and operations experience that is highly relevant to Xenon. Given our pipeline of approved, development stage and discovery stage products and programs, together with our strong balance sheet and our suite of major pharmaceutical partnerships, this is a good time for Xenon to be adding an experienced CFO like Ian to the company."<br /><br />Mr. Mortimer has over 15 years experience in the biotechnology sector. He is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Tekmira), a Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company focused on advancing RNAi therapeutic products. Mr. Mortimer is responsible for all aspects of Tekmira's finance and capital markets activities and led Tekmira's listing on Nasdaq in 2010. Prior to his most recent position at Tekmira, Mr. Mortimer was Chief Financial Officer at Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Mr. Mortimer has an MBA from Queen's University, a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of British Columbia and is a Certified Management Accountant. Mr. Mortimer will join Xenon as Chief Financial Officer full time by November 1, 2013.<br /><br />About Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. Xenon is a privately owned biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel medicines through the application of our proprietary discovery platform, which we refer to as Extreme Genetics. We are developing proprietary product candidates for the treatment of both orphan as well as more prevalent diseases. For more information, visit the Company's website at http://www.xenon-pharma.com.<br /><br />This release contains forward-looking statements that are not based on historical fact. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. 