Bellus developing therapy for E. coli complication
MONTREAL The most recent outbreak of E. coli in the U.S. sickened 52 people in nine states who ate at Chipotle restaurants and, although the company’s shares have lost nearly US$3 billion in market value, for those who contracted the toxic bacteria the outcome could have been much more devastating.
While Chipotle works to reassure customers its food is safe, Montreal drugmaker Bellus Health Inc. is the only firm in the world developing a treatment for a sometimes fatal complication to the bacteria, and will be taking the treatment to the FDA to begin U.S. studies next year.
Normally, E. coli causes diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever, nausea and vomiting for roughly a week. Still, there have been strains that had far worse results.
Five to 10 per cent of cases of E. coli produce the Shiga toxin and cause Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (sHUS), which affects the kidneys, often leading to the need for dialysis, and in certain cases chronic renal disease and death, primarily in children under five.
That’s where Bellus’ Shigamab antibody therapy would come in, stopping the sHUS when kidney function starts to drop.
In 2011, nearly 4,000 people were infected with E. coli in Germany, causing 857 sHUS cases and 48 deaths. Bellus estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 annual cases of sHUS in developed countries, with a market opportunity between $150 million and $200 million.
“This falls really right in our niche. It’s both a rare disease product, which is an area that we strongly believe in developing drugs for, there’s a very high unmet medical need there and there’s also a good potential for a strong return for our shareholders,” said Bellus CEO Roberto Bellini.
Bellus bought the rights to Shigamab when it acquired Montreal-based Thallion Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2013. Before then there was little progress being made to develop any sort of treatment for this severe complication.
As a small company of nine employees, Bellus doesn’t actually conduct the initial research or the later-stage commercialization.
Bellini says the company is focused on the strategic level: clinical trial design, oversight of projects, business development, finding new opportunities in the rare disease area and then eventually finding the big pharma partners that will commercialize these products.
“We’re focused on developing drugs for rare diseases and don’t want to do research or stuff that’s too early-stage because we don’t think that’s a good use of our money and our time,” Bellini said.