Ironwood looks to go public, raise $172M

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, a 2009 Fierce 15 company, has filed to go public, hoping raise $172 million and trade on Nasdaq. So far, Ironwood has raised $306 million in financing, according to an article in the Mass High Tech.

The company has one drug candidate in Phase III clinical trials, linaclotide, a potential treatment for irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal maladies. Ironwood expects to have data from its IBS trials in the second half of 2010, according to a filing with the SEC. If those trials are successful, it hopes to file an NDA in the first half of 2011. Ironwood also has a Phase I pain-drug candidate and various preclinical programs.

Venture backers include Ridgeback Capital, Venrock, Polaris Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Biosciences and Paperboy Ventures, according to the Mass High Tech article.

Earlier this month, Ironwood inked a $75 million deal with Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma. Under the terms of the deal, Astellas will gain exclusive development and commercialization rights to linaclotide in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

- read Ironwood's SEC filing
- check out the Mass High Tech article

Related Articles:
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals - 2009 Fierce 15
Ironwood lands $75M Asian deal for linaclotide
Ironwood upbeat on promising linaclotide PhIII data
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals - Top 20 VC deals of 2008