BELLUS Health to Present at the 2018 International Cough Symposium

LAVAL, QC, June 20, 2018 /CNW/ - BELLUS Health Inc. (TSX: BLU) ("BELLUS Health" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical development company advancing novel therapeutics for conditions with high unmet medical need, today announced that Dr. Denis Garceau, BELLUS Health's Senior Vice President, Drug Development, will present the Company's lead drug candidate for the treatment of chronic cough, BLU-5937, at the 2018 International Cough Symposium in London, UK, on Wednesday June 27, 2018 at 4:30 pm BST (11:30 am EDT).

Subject to a registration fee, the conference will be live streamed and also available for replay. For details, visit: https://www.regonline.co.uk/symposiumoncoughLIVESTREAM.

A copy of the presentation will be available on the Company's website at www.bellushealth.com following the event.

BLU-5937, the Company's lead drug candidate, is a potent, highly selective, orally bioavailable small molecule antagonist of the P2X3 receptor, a clinically validated target for chronic cough. BLU-5937 has the potential to be a best-in-class therapeutic for chronic cough patients who do not respond to current therapies. BLU-5937 has shown a significant reduction in cough and no effect on taste perception in two separate preclinical models. The Company completed preclinical studies on BLU-5937, including 28-day toxicology studies, which demonstrated an excellent safety profile. The Company expects to initiate a Phase 1 clinical study in healthy subjects in the third quarter of 2018.

About the International Cough Symposium

The 10^th International Cough Symposium will be held at the National Heart & Lung Institute of the Imperial College London from June 27 to 29, 2018. The Symposium will gather clinicians and scientists for a review and discussion of the latest research findings and evolving ideas regarding the importance of cough in clinical disease and the latest thoughts on pathophysiological mechanisms, current and future treatments of cough.

The Symposium will focus on the advances in clinical understanding of chronic cough, the importance of the hypersensitive cough state in disease, and the most recent developments in new targets for controlling cough and cough suppressive therapies.

About BELLUS Health (www.bellushealth.com)

BELLUS Health is a biopharmaceutical development company advancing novel therapeutics for conditions with high unmet medical need. Its pipeline of projects includes the Company's lead drug candidate BLU-5937 for chronic cough and several other partnered clinical-stage drug development programs. BLU-5937, a selective P2X3 antagonist, has the potential to be a best-in-class therapeutic for chronic cough patients who do not respond to current therapies.

Chronic cough is a cough that lasts more than eight weeks and is associated with significant adverse social, psychosocial and physical effects on quality of life. A recent commercial assessment performed by Torreya Insights on behalf of the Company concluded that, in the United States alone, more than 26 million adults have chronic cough and more than 2.6 million of these patients suffer from refractory chronic cough lasting for more than a year.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, other than statements of fact that are independently verifiable at the date hereof, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and regulations. Such statements, based as they are on the current expectations of management, inherently involve numerous important risks, uncertainties and assumptions, known and unknown, many of which are beyond BELLUS Health Inc.'s control. Such risks factors include but are not limited to: the ability to expand and develop its project pipeline, the ability to obtain financing, the impact of general economic conditions, general conditions in the pharmaceutical industry, changes in the regulatory environment in the jurisdictions in which BELLUS Health Inc. does business, stock market volatility, fluctuations in costs, changes to the competitive environment due to consolidation, achievement of forecasted burn rate, potential payments/outcomes in relation to indemnity agreements and contingent value rights, achievement of forecasted pre-clinical and clinical trial milestones and that actual results may vary once the final and quality-controlled verification of data and analyses has been completed. In addition, the length of BELLUS Health Inc.'s drug candidates' development process, their market size and commercial value, as well as the sharing of proceeds between BELLUS Health Inc. and its potential partners from potential future revenues, if any, are dependent upon a number of factors. Consequently, actual future results and events may differ materially from the anticipated results and events expressed in the forward-looking statements. BELLUS Health Inc. believes that expectations represented by forward-looking statements are reasonable, yet there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The reader should not place undue reliance, if any, on any forward-looking statements included in this news release. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and BELLUS Health Inc. is under no obligation and disavows any intention to update publicly or revise such statements as a result of any new information, future event, circumstances or otherwise, unless required by applicable legislation or regulation. Please see BELLUS Health Inc.'s public filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the Annual Information Form, for further risk factors that might affect BELLUS Health Inc. and its business.

SOURCE BELLUS Health Inc.