BayBio member Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: FRX) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) announced August 30 that LINZESS™ (linaclotide) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a once-daily treatment for adult men and women suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) or chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). The approval comes on the heals of several other BayBio member company treatment approvals.
IBS-C and CIC are chronic functional gastrointestinal disorders that affect as many as 13 million1 and 35 million2 adult Americans, respectively. Symptoms associated with IBS-C include abdominal pain and constipation; symptoms associated with CIC include constipation (infrequent stools, hard stools and incomplete evacuation). There are few treatment options for these conditions, particularly options that relieve abdominal pain associated with IBS-C.
Ironwood and Forest expect LINZESS to be available in the fourth quarter of 2012. Read the entire press release here.
