The U.S. SEC filed insider trading charges against Ruimin Xie, the former director of analytical development at Bellus Health Inc., for allegedly receiving ill-gotten gains of $59,408.42 by acting on word of a potential acquisition by GSK plc.
The U.S. FDA’s Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee has a lot to discuss Nov. 17, but only one voting question: Does the evidence demonstrate that Merck & Co. Inc.’s gefapixant provides a clinically meaningful benefit to adults with refractory or unexplained chronic cough?
In its $2 billion acquisition of Bellus Health Inc., GSK plc is getting camlipixant, which is being developed to treat refractory chronic cough. The selective P2X3 receptor antagonist is currently in phase I and phase III studies. Bellus will be acquired by GSK for $14.75 per share in cash.
Merck & Co Inc. has had a setback with its chronic cough drug gefapixant after the FDA rejected its NDA, a decision that also briefly hit the share price of rival Bellus Health Inc. before it regained market traction late Jan. 24. The FDA had been reviewing gefapixant since March 2021, but the regulator is now asking for additional information related to measurement of efficacy in a dreaded complete response letter. Merck said the response was not related to the safety of gefapixant, a P2X3 receptor antagonist, under development for treatment of refractory chronic cough (RCC) or unexplained chronic cough in adults. Shares in Merck (NYSE:MRK) ticked down 1.4% to $78.86 while Bellus Health shares (NASDAQ:BLU) rose by 1.8% to $5.66.
LONDON – Nerre Therapeutics Ltd. will have another go at delivering proof of efficacy for its chronic cough treatment, after raising £20 million (US$27.6 million) in a series B2 round.
The failure of an experimental refractory chronic cough drug to yield statistically significant reductions in placebo-adjusted cough frequency sent shares of its developer, Bellus Health Inc. (NASDAQ:BLU), down 71.7% to $3.40 on July 7.
