Bausch Health, Canada Inc. announced the first public drug plan listings for PrUCERIS® (budesonide) aerosol foam to treat mild to moderate  distal ulcerative colitis in adults. UCERIS is now available for patients through the public drug plans of five Canadian provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These first public drug plan listings for UCERIS come following the signing of a letter of intent with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) early this year, setting out the parameters for listing of the treatment by the public drug plans of the provinces, territories and federal government.

UCERIS, part of the Company's growing gastrointestinal franchise, has been available in Canada by prescription since September 2023 and is covered by the majority of private insurance drug plans in Canada. UCERIS is the only glucocorticosteroid rectal foam available in Canada indicated for the induction of remission in adult patients with active mild to moderate distal ulcerative colitis extending up to 40 cm from the anal verge. In a study comparing budesonide foam and budesonide enema in patients with active distal ulcerative colitis, most patients (84%) preferred the foam formulation because of its better tolerability and easier application.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease affecting the large intestine, or colon. The condition causes inflammation and ulceration (sores) along the lining of the colon, which can lead to abdominal pain, cramps, bleeding and diarrhea. In ulcerative colitis, the inflammation starts at the rectum and continues through the colon.

Symptoms include diarrhea with blood and mucus, pain on the left-hand side of the abdomen, urgency and tenesmus (the feeling of needing to pass stools even if the bowel is empty). In the two clinical studies on which the approval of UCERIS rectal aerosol foam was based, a significantly higher proportion of patients in the UCERIS group than in the placebo group were in remission at Week 6 (38.3% and 44.0% vs. 25.8% and 22.4% respectively, pooled p<0.0001) and had a rectal bleeding sub-score of 0 at Week 6 (46.6% and 50.0% vs.

28.0% and 28.6% respectively, pooled p<0.0001). There was also a higher proportion of patients in the UCERIS group than in the placebo group with an endoscopy sub-score of 0 or 1 at Week 6 (55.6% and 56.0% vs. 43.2% and 36.7% respectively.