Business
Annual General Meeting of Shareholders - BELLUS Health provides updates on corporate and financial developments
LAVAL, QC, June 4 /CNW Telbec/ - BELLUS Health Inc. (TSX: BLU) (BELLUS Health or the Company) hel...
About this update from Bluenergies Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nLAVAL, QC, June 4 /CNW Telbec/ - BELLUS Health Inc. (TSX: BLU) (BELLUS\nHealth or the Company) held its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders today,\nwhere management provided shareholders with updates on the status of\neprodisate (KIACTA(TM)) and other products in the development pipeline, on\nVIVIMIND(TM)'s commercial activities and on the finances and operations of the\nCompany.\n\n\n"Today, BELLUS Health is what I like to refer to as a 'virtual'\nbiopharmaceutical company. By this, I mean that the organization has trimmed\nitself to focus on critical product programs, and now places greater reliance\non external consultants and resources to maximize its internal expertise,"\nsaid Dr. Francesco Bellini, BELLUS Health's Chairman, President and Chief\nExecutive Officer. "It was vital that the Company restructure and re-invent\nitself," he added.\n\n\nBELLUS Health has successfully reduced its use of cash ('burn rate') to\napproximately CA$2 million per month. The measures taken by the Company to\nachieve this reduction included cutting expenses, streamlining operations to\nfocus on critical product programs, reducing its workforce and outsourcing\nmany support services. The Company also reorganized its corporate structure,\nrestructured its existing debt to significantly reduce its levels, and raised\nnew capital.\n\n\nPharmaceutical Development Pipeline\n\n\nNRM8499 Prodrug Candidate\n\n\nIn the last year, BELLUS Health conducted very important analyses on the\ndata of its North American Phase III trial for tramiprosate (ALZHEMED(TM)) for\nthe treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Outcomes of the subgroup analyses\nappear promising. Results obtained with an "adjusted by mixed effects repeated\nmeasures" model, looked at a subset of 474 patients that tested positive for\nthe ApoE4 allele, a well-validated genetic marker for AD and a gene considered\nto increase the risk for the development of the disease and associated with\nmore severe disease progression. Statistically significant differences between\nthe placebo and tramiprosate-treated groups were observed over 18 months of\ntreatment in favor of tramiprosate with respect to change in ADAS-Cog and\nCDR-SB, measures of cognitive function and global performance, respectively.\nGiven their importance to advancing potential treatments in ...