Ironwood Passes 4th Big Trial

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRWD]]), the Cambridge, MA-based biotech company, said today that it passed its fourth major clinical trial of its lead drug candidate. The company, along with its partner Forest Laboratories, said that their experimental drug linaclotide showed a statistically significant benefit on all four primary study goals, when compared against a placebo for patients who have irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. The companies have now passed all four pivotal studies of linaclotide, which is designed for patients with chronic constipation, as well as irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. The companies plan to seek FDA clearance to start selling the product for both uses in 2011.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.