Alzheon association with BellusWithout question Kiacta Ph 3 results and its potential commercization is the current main driver for Bellus. The Alzheimer drug, Tramiprosate(BLU-8499), just reinforces what other compounds this company has been involved with in the past, and the full potential that may benefit Bellus shareholders in the future. #1 Below is from the CEO's blog on the Bellus website from April 21, 2015, it covers what decisions Bellus has had to make to focus its resources. #2 Below is from Bellus news release from Oct 23, 2013. Also, CEO of Alzheon, Dr Martin Tolar, is a Bellus Director. IMHO, what goes on with Alzheon definitely has an impact on Bellus. Hope this helps.
1)
Rationalizing our business model wasn’t enough. It was also important to understand what kinds of drugs we wanted to develop. We were 100 percent committed to Kiacta in AA amyloidosis. We felt we had the expertise, the experience, and, with our partnership, the financing to move the project forward effectively. This wasn’t the case for BLU-8499, our lead candidate in Alzheimer’s disease. It required too much funding and an ulterior level of expertise that we no longer had in-house.
Basically, we felt that we could neither effectively compete in the Alzheimer’s field nor have the right risk/return profile for our shareholders in this project. BLU-8499 was ultimately deemed non-core and licensed to Alzheon, a start-up based close to Boston, Massachusetts.
The Alzheon management team is a group that had strong expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and they had recently raised a $10M Series A financing. This is good news for Alzheimer’s patients with another potential drug in development, and good news for Bellus shareholders who can reap the benefit of a share of future Alzheon revenues as well as a royalty linked to an eventual Alzheimer’s disease drug sales.
2)
BLU8499 and Tramiprosate Analog Platform Transaction
Alzheon, Inc. ("Alzheon") of Lexington, Massachusetts, USA, has entered into a worldwide license agreement for BLU8499 and a family of analogs, along with an associated platform of chemotypes and clinical datasets. BELLUS Health will receive a portion of all future payments received by Alzheon related to BLU8499 and royalties on net sales of BLU8499. Further terms of the license agreement are not disclosed.
"We believe that placing BLU8499 and the tramiprosate analog platform in the hands of a proven and experienced Alzheimer's drug development team at Alzheon will enable BELLUS Health to realize the full potential of this therapeutic asset and give us the option to derive significant future value," continued Roberto Bellini, Chief Executive Officer of BELLUS Health.