BELLUS Health Inc. (Nasdaq:BLU; TSX:BLU) (“BELLUS Health” or the
“Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
novel therapeutics for the treatment of chronic cough and other
hypersensitization-related disorders, today announced the
appointment of William Mezzanotte, MD, MPH to its Board of
Directors. Dr. Mezzanotte brings decades of vast development and
commercial experience to the Board, including the development and
approval of 30 products across multiple therapeutic areas.
“Bill is a biopharmaceutical veteran with a proven drug
development track record, including the approval of several drugs
within the respiratory field,” commented Dr. Francesco Bellini,
Chairman of BELLUS Health. “We are pleased to welcome Bill to our
Board of Directors, and we look forward to leveraging his extensive
knowledge and guidance to help position BLU-5937 for clinical,
regulatory and commercial success.”
Dr. Mezzanotte is currently the Head of Research and Development
and Chief Medical Officer at CSL Behring, where he is responsible
for developing and executing the Research & Development
strategy and portfolio across four continents. Prior to CSL, he was
Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Respiratory for
Boehringer Ingelheim. At Boehringer Ingelheim, he oversaw all
Global Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Marketing and Payer
activities within the Respiratory portfolio, overseeing the launch
of three respiratory products. Previously, Dr. Mezzanotte worked at
AstraZeneca for over 15 years, assuming roles of increasing
leadership and management responsibility in clinical research and
development across multiple therapeutic areas. His last role there
was Head of the Inflammation, Neuroscience and Respiratory Global
Medicines Unit. Earlier in his career, Dr. Mezzanotte practiced
Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and ran both a multispecialty
sleep disorders center and a pulmonary diagnostics and
interventional bronchoscopy laboratory. He received an
undergraduate degree from Villanova University and obtained his MD
at the University of Pennsylvania and MPH from Johns Hopkins
University. Dr. Mezzanotte is board certified in internal medicine,
pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine and sleep medicine.
“I am excited to join BELLUS’ Board and contribute to the
development of the Company’s promising lead candidate, BLU-5937,”
said Dr. Mezzanotte. “Patients with refractory chronic cough have
no FDA-approved treatments to help alleviate their symptoms. As a
highly selective and differentiated P2X3 antagonist, BLU-5937 has
the potential to offer meaningful improvement for these patients. I
look forward to working with the BELLUS management team and other
members of the Board to potentially bring this exciting therapy to
the millions of patients that suffer from refractory chronic cough,
as well as other hypersensitization-related disorders.”
About BELLUS Health (www.bellushealth.com)
BELLUS Health is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of chronic cough
and other hypersensitization-related disorders. The Company's
product candidate, BLU-5937, is being developed for the treatment
of refractory chronic cough and chronic pruritus associated with
atopic dermatitis.
Refractory chronic cough is a cough lasting more than 8 weeks
despite appropriate treatment for underlying condition(s). It is
estimated that there are approximately 9 million patients in the
United States suffering from refractory chronic cough. Refractory
chronic cough is associated with significant adverse physical,
social, and psychosocial effects on health and quality of life.
Currently, there is no specific therapy approved for refractory
chronic cough and current treatment options are limited.
Chronic pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis is an
irritating sensation that leads to scratching and persists for
longer than 6 weeks in atopic dermatitis patients. Of the estimated
5 million patients in the United States suffering from atopic
dermatitis, almost all suffer from pruritus and over 50% of
patients attribute chronic pruritus as their most burdensome
symptom. Despite currently available treatments targeting atopic
dermatitis, there continues to be a lack of options targeting the
burden of pruritus in patients with atopic dermatitis.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release, other than
statements of fact that are independently verifiable at the date
hereof, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Canadian securities legislation and regulations, the
U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended,
and other applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements
are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as
“expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,”
“potential,” “possible,” “projects,” “plans,” and similar
expressions. Such statements, based as they are on the current
expectations of management, inherently involve numerous important
risks, uncertainties and assumptions, known and unknown, many of
which are beyond BELLUS Health's control. Such statements include,
but are not limited to, the potential of BLU-5937 to successfully
treat chronic cough, chronic pruritus and other
hypersensitization-related disorders, BELLUS Health’s expectations
related to its preclinical studies and clinical trials, including
the design and timing of its Phase 2b clinical trial of BLU-5937 in
RCC and its Phase 2 clinical trial of BLU-5937 in chronic pruritus
associated with AD, including the timing and outcome of
interactions with regulatory agencies, the potential activity and
tolerability profile, selectivity, potency and other
characteristics of BLU-5937, including as compared to other
competitor candidates, the commercial potential of BLU-5937,
including with respect to patient population, pricing and labeling,
BELLUS Health’s financial position, and the potential applicability
of BLU-5937 and BELLUS Health’s P2X3 platform to treat other
disorders. Risk factors that may affect BELLUS Health’s future
results include but are not limited to: the benefits and impact on
label of its enrichment strategy, estimates and projections
regarding the size and opportunity of the addressable RCC market
for BLU-5937, the ability to expand and develop its project
pipeline, the ability to obtain adequate financing, the ability of
BELLUS Health to maintain its rights to intellectual property and
obtain adequate protection of future products through such
intellectual property, the impact of general economic conditions,
general conditions in the pharmaceutical industry, the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic on BELLUS Health’s operations, plans and
prospects, including to the initiation and completion of clinical
trials in a timely manner or at all, changes in the regulatory
environment in the jurisdictions in which BELLUS Health does
business, stock market volatility, fluctuations in costs, changes
to the competitive environment due to consolidation, achievement of
forecasted burn rate, potential payments/outcomes in relation to
indemnity agreements and contingent value rights, achievement of
forecasted preclinical study and clinical trial milestones,
reliance on third parties to conduct preclinical studies and
clinical trials for BLU-5937 and that actual results may vary once
the final and quality-controlled verification of data and analyses
has been completed. In addition, the length of BELLUS Health’s
product candidate’s development process and its market size and
commercial value are dependent upon a number of factors. Moreover,
BELLUS Health’s growth and future prospects are mainly dependent on
the successful development, patient tolerability, regulatory
approval, commercialization and market acceptance of its product
candidate BLU-5937 and other products. Consequently, actual future
results and events may differ materially from the anticipated
results and events expressed in the forward-looking statements.
BELLUS Health believes that expectations represented by
forward-looking statements are reasonable, yet there can be no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The
reader should not place undue reliance, if any, on any
forward-looking statements included in this news release. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and
BELLUS Health is under no obligation and disavows any intention to
update publicly or revise such statements as a result of any new
information, future event, circumstances or otherwise, unless
required by applicable legislation or regulation. Please see BELLUS
Health's public filings with the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities, including, but not limited to, its Annual Information
Form, and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission,
including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 40-F, for
further risk factors that might affect BELLUS Health and its
business.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210324005199/en/
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Danny Matthews Director, Investor
Relations and Communications danny@bellushealth.com Media: Julia
Deutsch Solebury Trout jdeutsch@soleburytrout.com
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