Ironwood looks to IPO, hopes for $172M

By Mass High Tech Staff

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Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Cambridge-based maker of antibacterial drugs, has filed to go public, hoping to raise $172 million and trade on the Nasdaq. Ironwood, which was founded as Microbia in 1999, has raised a total of $306 million in financing to date.

The company has one drug candidate in Phase 3 clinical trials, linaclotide, which is designed to combat irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal maladies. Ironwood also has a Phase 1 pain-drug candidate and various preclinical programs. Ironwood has chosen “IRWD” as its ticker symbol.

Venture backers include Ridgeback Capital, Venrock, Polaris Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Biosciences and Paperboy Ventures. Ridgeback of New York is the largest investor, but Venrock is second with an 11.27 percent stake in the company, and Polaris is third with 8.14 percent, according to Ironwood’s initial public offering filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earlier this month, Ironwood entered into a $75 million licensing agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. of Tokyo that will give the Japanese pharmaceutical firm exclusive development and commercialization rights to linaclotide, in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Ironwood spun out the Microbia name into a subsidiary, now named Microbia Inc., which develops bioprocesses to produce specialty chemicals for both internal use and strategic partners. The company changed its name to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals in April 2008.

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