CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Ironwood
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) and Protagonist
Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a
collaboration to discover novel peptides for potential development by
Ironwood. The collaboration capitalizes on Protagonist's proprietary
disulfide rich peptide (DRP) technology platform, and provides Ironwood
with the opportunity to develop novel peptides and treatments against
clinically-validated targets in therapeutic areas with significant unmet
medical needs.
During the collaboration period, Protagonist will use its DRP technology
platform to design peptides against targets identified by Ironwood.
Ironwood has the right to advance such peptides through preclinical and
clinical development, and if such development is successful,
commercialization. In connection with entering into the agreement,
Ironwood made an upfront payment to Protagonist, and it will fund
full-time equivalents for Protagonist's drug discovery activities during
the collaboration period. Pending the achievement of certain development
and commercialization milestones, Ironwood will make certain milestone
payments and will pay royalties on sales of each product incorporating
peptides identified by Protagonist.
"This collaboration is a validation of Protagonist's innovative drug
discovery technology platform, designed to exploit DRPs as therapeutic
agents," said Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D., president and chief executive
officer of Protagonist. "We have found an ideal partner in Ironwood
given their experience with linaclotide, an oral peptide that recently
completed the efficacy portion of its Phase 3 program. We look forward
to working with their outstanding team in the discovery of novel
peptides against targets of therapeutic significance."
"We are excited to establish this relationship with Protagonist," said
Mark G. Currie, Ph.D., senior vice president, R&D and chief scientific
officer of Ironwood. "We believe that their expertise in the field of
peptide drug discovery and their proprietary DRP platform complement our
internal discovery and development capabilities very well. Entering into
this collaboration is an important step in advancing our goal of
discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative medicines
targeting important therapeutic needs."
About Protagonist Therapeutics
Protagonist
Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company pursuing the
discovery and development of disulfide rich peptides (DRPs) as well
differentiated alternatives to antibodies and also as new chemical
entities (NCEs) against those targets and diseases for which suitable
small molecule and/or biologic options are either not ideal or not
available. Protagonist has developed a proprietary drug discovery
technology platform, available for non-exclusive partnerships, that
enables it to identify DRP based hits and leads against any type of
target in a de novo manner. These DRP molecules combine the beneficial
features of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with the desired properties of
small molecule drugs. Protagonist, a spin-out of University of
Queensland's Institute for Molecular Biosciences (IMB), is headquartered
in Redwood City, Calif., USA and has discovery operations in Brisbane,
Australia at the IMB. For more information on Protagonist, please visit www.protagonist-inc.com.
About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals
Ironwood
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) is an entrepreneurial pharmaceutical
company dedicated to the art and science of great drugmaking.
Linaclotide, Ironwood's GC-C agonist, is being evaluated in a
confirmatory Phase 3 program for the treatment of irritable bowel
syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic constipation. Ironwood
also has a growing pipeline of additional drug candidates in earlier
stages of development. Ironwood is located in Cambridge, Mass. To learn
more, visit www.ironwoodpharma.com.
This press release contains forward looking statements, and investors
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Such
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
Protagonist's development obligations, Ironwood's rights to develop any
peptide developed by Protagonist, and Ironwood's obligations to fund
Protagonist's research and to make milestone and royalty payments if
products are successfully developed and commercialized. Each
forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include
the risks that Ironwood chooses not to develop or commercialize a
peptide designed in connection with the collaboration, that a peptide
does not successfully complete preclinical or clinical development, that
either party commits a material breach of the collaboration agreement,
or that the collaboration is terminated before Protagonist develops any
peptides. Applicable risks also include those that are listed in
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three
months ended September 30, 2010, in addition to the risk factors that
are listed from time to time in Ironwood's subsequent SEC filings.
Ironwood undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press
release. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of
this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in
their entirety by this cautionary statement.
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Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Susan Brady, 617.621.8304
Corporate
Communications
sbrady@ironwoodpharma.com
or
Protagonist
Therapeutics, Inc.
Jeff Richardson, 805-491-8313
RichardsonGlobalPR
jeff@richardsonglobalpr.com
Source: Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. & Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.
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