Bel­lus hopes to fu­el up on IPO cash as it squares off with gi­ant Mer­ck on a ri­val drug

Fu­eled by a suc­cess­ful Phase I tri­al treat­ing chron­ic cough and lured by the promise of tak­ing their lead drug to oth­er ap­pli­ca­tions, Mon­tre­al-based Bel­lus Health is look­ing to make its de­but on Nas­daq with a $60 mil­lion IPO.

The pub­lic of­fer­ing could be a ma­jor boon to the small Cana­di­an com­pa­ny as it looks to out­pace phar­ma gi­ant Mer­ck in the race to bring a P2X3-block­ing drug to mar­ket. Block­ing the P2X3 re­cep­tor is a close­ly stud­ied method for re­duc­ing dis­or­ders around hy­per­sen­si­tiv­i­ty, in­clud­ing most promi­nent­ly chron­ic cough.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER