Ironwood Pharmaceuticals to Present Clinical and Preclinical Data on sGC Stimulators at Upcoming Scientific Conferences

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) today announced that the company and its academic collaborators will present clinical and preclinical data on several soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulators from Ironwood’s vascular and fibrotic disease platform at multiple upcoming scientific conferences. Currently, two of Ironwood’s investigational sGC stimulators, IW‐1973 and IW‐1701, are in Phase I studies, with multiple Phase II studies expected to initiate this year.

“The Ironwood team continues to leverage our pharmacologic expertise in guanylate cyclases to explore innovative potential applications of sGC stimulators across a broad range of vascular and fibrotic diseases,” said Mark Currie, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and president of research and development at Ironwood. “We believe the critical role of the sGC pathway in regulating blood flow, inflammation and fibrosis provides the opportunity to develop multiple products for significant unmet needs, and we look forward to advancing our first clinical candidates into multiple Phase II studies expected later this year.”

The data will be presented as follows:

First-in-Human Single-Ascending-Dose Study of IW-1973, a New Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulator (1205M-05), by John Hanrahan, M.D., M.P.H., senior director of clinical research at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., will be presented at the American College of Cardiology 65^th Annual Scientific Sessions taking place April 2-4, 2016, in Chicago. The oral moderated ePoster presentation will take place on Sunday, April 3, 2016, 1:00-1:15 p.m. Central Time in the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies Moderated Poster Theater, South Hall A1 during the Novel Therapies in Heart Failure poster session.

The Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulator IWP-953 Increases Conventional Outflow Facility in Mouse Eyes (3010 - A0359), by Pei Ge, Ph.D., senior scientist at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., will be presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting taking place May 1-5, 2016, in Seattle. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, 8:30-10:15 a.m. Pacific Time during the Glaucoma Clinical Studies and Pharmacology poster session.

Two additional posters featuring preclinical data on sGC stimulators from Ironwood’s vascular and fibrotic disease platform will be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference taking place May 13-18, 2016, in San Francisco. The titles of these posters remain embargoed until abstracts are released.

About Ironwood’s sGC Platform

The enzyme soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) plays a central role in physiological control of blood flow, inflammation, and fibrosis. Modulating the sGC signaling pathway may have beneficial effects in multiple vascular and fibrotic diseases with high unmet need, such as congestive heart failure and diabetic nephropathy, as well as certain orphan diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and achalasia, among others. Ironwood established its expertise in guanylate cyclases through the discovery and development of linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase C (GC‐C) agonist. Stimulation of sGC is a clinically validated approach, and Ironwood has discovered a diverse library of sGC stimulators. Ironwood’s investigational sGC stimulators IW‐1973 and IW‐1701 are in Phase I studies with multiple Phase II studies expected to initiate in 2016.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) is a commercial biotechnology company focused on creating medicines that make a difference for patients, building value for our fellow shareholders, and empowering our passionate team. We are advancing an innovative pipeline of medicines in multiple areas of significant unmet need, including irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C)/chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC), vascular and fibrotic diseases, and refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease, among others. We discovered, developed and are commercializing linaclotide, the U.S. branded prescription market leader in the IBS-C/CIC category, and we are applying our proven R&D and commercial capabilities to advance multiple internally-developed and externally-accessed product opportunities. Ironwood was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.ironwoodpharma.com or www.twitter.com/ironwoodpharma; information that may be important to investors will be routinely posted in both these locations.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, including statements about the clinical programs for our sGC stimulators, including the expected Phase II clinical studies; the anticipated presentation of data on IW-1973 and IWP-953 at scientific conferences; the role of and therapeutic opportunities for sGC stimulators and the unmet need for such diseases; and the design, breath, scope and potential of our library of sGC stimulators, and our development plans and activities with respect thereto. 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 risk that we are unable to conduct the Phase II clinical studies for IW-1701 or IW-1973 on the same timelines or with the same results as we currently anticipate, or we are otherwise unable to effectively execute on the clinical programs for our sGC stimulators; the risk that the data from such clinical studies are not available when we currently anticipate them or do not demonstrate the results or provide the information we expect; the risk that we are not able to publish data on our sGC program on the timeline or through the media that we currently anticipate; the risk that future clinical studies need to be discontinued for any reason, including safety, tolerability, enrollment, manufacturing or economic reasons; the risk that the data from previous non-clinical or clinical studies do not support the data from future clinical studies; the risk that the therapeutic opportunities for sGC stimulators and the potential for our library of sGC stimulators is not as we expect; those related to decisions made by regulatory authorities; those related to competition and future business decisions made by us and our competitors or potential competitors; and those risks listed under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in Ironwood’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and in our subsequent SEC filings. These forward-looking statements (except as otherwise noted) speak only as of the date of this press release, and Ironwood undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160330005166/en/