Ironwood Pharma, Protagonist sign peptide drug discovery pact

The tie up allows Ironwood Pharma to develop new peptides and treatments for therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs.

During the collaboration period, Protagonist will use its disulfide rich peptide (DRP) technology platform to design peptides against targets identified by Ironwood.

Under the pact, Protagonist has received an upfront payment from Ironwood Pharma and is also expected to get fund full-time equivalents for its drug discovery activities.

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.

Protagonist president and CEO Dinesh Patel said they 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.