- BELLUS Health (TSX:BLU) has completed patient enrolment for its study of the drug BLU-5937
- The Phase II RELIEF trial will test how the drug treats patients with refractory chronic cough
- BELLUS Health has enrolled a total of 68 patients at 16 clinics in the UK and US for the trial
- The company expects to report the trial results in mid-2020
- BELLUS Health (BLU) is up 23.95 per cent, and is currently trading at C$8.00 per share
Biopharmaceutical company BELLUS Health (TSX:BLU) has announced the completion of patient enrolment for its study on BLU-5937.
The Phase II trial of BLU-5937 will test the drug’s impact on patients who suffer from refractory chronic cough.
Chronic cough is a cough that lasts for longer than eight weeks in adults, or four weeks in children. While it has a variety of potential causes, it can have significantly negative impacts on daily life. Estimates suggest that the condition affects approximately 26 million adults in the United States alone.
BELLUS Health has enrolled a total of 68 patients with the condition across 16 clinical sites in the United Kingdom and United States.
The RELIEF trial of BLU-5937 will assess the drug’s efficacy, safety and tolerability at four different doses. This will involve orally administering 25, 50, 100 or 200mg of the drug to patients twice a day.
According to today’s release, 75 per cent of the enrolled patients have already completed the dosing stage of the trial.
The company strongly believes that BLU-5937 has the potential to be a treatment option for chronic cough, chronic pruritus (itching) and other hypersensitisation-related disorders.
BELLUS Health’s President and CEO, Roberto Bellini, called the completion of patient enrolment an important achievement for the drug development program.
“BLU-5937 has the potential to address a significant unmet medical need in chronic cough.
We believe our compound may be better tolerated than competitor candidates, due to its high selectivity, potentially reducing cough frequency with little to no alteration,” Roberto said.
BELLUS Health (BLU) is up 24.42 per cent, and trading at C$8.00 per share as of 11:57am EST.