BELLUS Health Appoints William Mezzanotte, MD, MPH to its Board of Directors
LAVAL, Quebec—March 24, 2021— BELLUS Health Inc. (Nasdaq:BLU; TSX:BLU) (“BELLUS Health” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of chronic cough and other hypersensitization-related disorders, today announced the appointment of William Mezzanotte, MD, MPH to its Board of Directors. Dr. Mezzanotte brings decades of vast development and commercial experience to the Board, including the development and approval of 30 products across multiple therapeutic areas.
“Bill is a biopharmaceutical veteran with a proven drug development track record, including the approval of several drugs within the respiratory field,” commented Dr. Francesco Bellini, Chairman of BELLUS Health. “We are pleased to welcome Bill to our Board of Directors, and we look forward to leveraging his extensive knowledge and guidance to help position BLU-5937 for clinical, regulatory and commercial success.”
Dr. Mezzanotte is currently the Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at CSL Behring, where he is responsible for developing and executing the Research & Development strategy and portfolio across four continents. Prior to CSL, he was Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Respiratory for Boehringer Ingelheim. At Boehringer Ingelheim, he oversaw all Global Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Marketing and Payer activities within the Respiratory portfolio, overseeing the launch of three respiratory products. Previously, Dr. Mezzanotte worked at AstraZeneca for over 15 years, assuming roles of increasing leadership and management responsibility in clinical research and development across multiple therapeutic areas. His last role there was Head of the Inflammation, Neuroscience and Respiratory Global Medicines Unit. Earlier in his career, Dr. Mezzanotte practiced Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and ran both a multispecialty sleep disorders center and a pulmonary diagnostics and interventional bronchoscopy laboratory. He received an undergraduate degree from Villanova University and obtained his MD at the University of Pennsylvania and MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Mezzanotte is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine and sleep medicine.
“I am excited to join BELLUS’ Board and contribute to the development of the Company’s promising lead candidate, BLU-5937,” said Dr. Mezzanotte. “Patients with refractory chronic cough have no FDA-approved treatments to help alleviate their symptoms. As a highly selective and differentiated P2X3 antagonist, BLU-5937 has the potential to offer meaningful improvement for these patients. I look forward to working with the BELLUS management team and other members of the Board to potentially bring this exciting therapy to the millions of patients that suffer from refractory chronic cough, as well as other hypersensitization-related disorders.”
About BELLUS Health (www.bellushealth.com)
BELLUS Health is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of chronic cough and other hypersensitization-related disorders. The Company's product candidate, BLU-5937, is being developed for the treatment of refractory chronic cough and chronic pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis.
Refractory chronic cough is a cough lasting more than 8 weeks despite appropriate treatment for underlying condition(s). It is estimated that there are approximately 9 million patients in the United States suffering from refractory chronic cough. Refractory chronic cough is associated with significant adverse physical, social, and psychosocial effects on health and quality of life. Currently, there is no specific therapy approved for refractory chronic cough and current treatment options are limited.
