GSK to acquire Canada-based BELLUS Health for $2 billion
LONDON, UK: GSK plc and BELLUS Health Inc. have entered into a deal in which GSK will acquire BELLUS, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company for an approximate equity value of $2.0 billion.
BELLUS Health is a Canada-based company that focuses on developing drugs to improve the lives of patients suffering from refractory chronic cough (RCC). With the acquisition, GSK will gain access to camlipixant, a potential best-in-class P2X3 antagonist that is currently in phase III development for the first-line treatment of adult patients with RCC.
It is estimated that 28 million patients suffer from chronic cough, with 10 million globally and 6 million in the US and EU suffering from RCC for over a year. RCC significantly impacts the quality of life of patients, causing depression, urinary incontinence, pain, social withdrawal, and loss of sleep. There are currently no approved medicines for RCC in the US and EU.
P2X3 is a biological target that camlipixant selectively inhibits, reducing cough frequency for patients suffering from RCC with a relatively low incidence of dysgeusia. Dysgeusia is a taste disturbance adverse event associated with other medicines that broadly target the P2X2/3 receptor.
This taste disturbance frequently leads to patients discontinuing treatment. Low rates of taste-related adverse events were reported at all doses in the phase IIb trial. GSK’s Chief Commercial Officer, Luke Miels, stated that camlipixant has the potential to be a best-in-class treatment with significant sales potential.
The acquisition of BELLUS is synergistic with GSK’s expertise in respiratory medicines and is further supported by GSK’s leading R&D, manufacturing, and commercialisation capabilities.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted EPS from 2027 and has the potential to deliver significant sales through 2031 and beyond.
BELLUS initiated the CALM phase III development program consisting of the CALM-1 and CALM-2 trials, with data anticipated in H2 2024 and 2025, respectively. BELLUS is also evaluating a QD (once-daily) formulation for camlipixant, which is currently in phase I.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, and the per-share price represents a premium of approximately 103% to BELLUS’ closing stock price on 17 April 2023 and a premium of approximately 101% to BELLUS’ volume-weighted average price over the last 30 trading days. BELLUS’ Board of Directors has unanimously recommended that BELLUS’ shareholders vote in favour of the approval of the acquisition. GSK expects the acquisition to be accretive to adjusted EPS in 2027, the expected first full year of camlipixant’s sales.
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