Our Products

BELLUS Health is a global health company focused on the development and commercialization of products to provide innovative health solutions to address critical unmet needs. BELLUS Health engages in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical activities.

Nutraceutical

VIVIMIND™ - to protect memory function
After over 15 years of significant scientific research, including clinical testing with over 2,000 individuals in 50 U.S. and 17 Canadian medical centres, and hundreds of millions of dollars invested, VIVIMIND™ has been scientifically proven to protect memory function, based on the naturally occurring ingredient, homotaurine. VIVIMIND™ is now available for consumers.

VIVIMIND™ is a patented product based on the ingredient homotaurine, a naturally occurring amino acid with unique properties found in certain seaweed. VIVIMIND™ (homotaurine) is proven to have beneficial effects on brain structure, as well as memory.

In January 2010, the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) issued a directive to provincial pharmacists associations requesting that pharmacists not sell natural health products that have not been issued a Natural Health Product Number (NPN) by Health Canada.  The Company has taken a decision to temporarily cease its sales and marketing activities for VIVIMIND™ until a NPN number has been received for the product, expected in the middle of 2010.  The Company plans on re-launching the product in Canada at that time.  In the meantime, the product will still be available via the Internet.

VIVIMIND™ is commercialized by OVOS Natural Health Inc.

Pharmaceutical

In AA Amylodidosis
Eprodisate (KIACTA™) is the Company’s oral investigational product candidate for the treatment of Amyloid A amyloidosis, a potentially fatal disease that is caused by chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. It is most often associated with kidney dysfunction, although other major organs may be involved. Currently there is no cure for this disease and its incidence rate is underestimated. Following our first pivotal trial that showed significant treatment effects (P = 0.025) in preventing disease progression, the Company is continuing the drug development program for eprodisate (KIACTA™) and that it planned to initiate a second Phase III clinical trial for eprodisate (KIACTA™) in close cooperation with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). The Company is currently involved in discussions with different parties to secure agreements in relation to the continued development (including the second Phase III trial) and commercialization of eprodisate (KIACTA™).

In Type II Diabetes and Certain Features of Metabolic Syndrome
NC-503 (eprodisate) is being developped for the treatment of Type II diabetes and certain features of metabolic syndrome. During the second quarter of 2008, a Phase II clinical trial in diabetic patients was initiated in Canada. The study is a randomized 26-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The Company expects to release the final results of the Phase II clinical trial in the first half of 2010. Results from a validated rat model of diabetes and metabolic syndrome have demonstrated that NC-503 decreases glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides blood levels in obese diabetic Zucker rats, when compared to the control group, while preserving 40% more pancreatic islet cells (insulin secreting cells) as compared to the control group, and have shown some protective effect on renal function.  This study will serve as clinical proof-of-concept to support the development program of a prodrug of NC-503 for the treatment of Type II diabetes and certain features of metabolic syndrome which is expected to enter into preclinical development in the second half of 2010.

In Alzheimer’s Disease
Based on the positive signal for a treatment effect observed in our Phase III trial and leveraging the many years of accumulated knowledge and experience with tramiprosate in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, BELLUS Health will be pursuing further development of its Alzheimer's disease treatment program. In this respect, BELLUS Health will prioritize  the development of a prodrug of tramiprosate, a new chemical entity, for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. A prodrug is a pharmaceutical substance which is administered in an inactive form and, once absorbed, is metabolized in vivo into its active form in this case, tramiprosate. The benefits of using prodrugs are predominantly improved pharmacokinetics whereby more of the active compound reaches the target organs and systems, thus improving efficacy. It is expected that the Company will initiate a Phase I clinical trial during the first half of 2010.