NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Synergy
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGYPD, SGYPU), a developer of new
drugs to treat gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and diseases,
announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against Ironwood
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:IRWD) and its Chief Scientific
Officer and Senior VP of R&D, Dr. Mark
G. Currie.
The lawsuit alleges that after European patent 1,379,224 was
granted to Synergy but prior to issuance, Ironwood and Dr. Currie
opposed the patent before the European Patent Office and presented
to the European Patent Office and the United States Patent and
Trademark Office, data and arguments that were false,
contradictory, inaccurate and misleading. In its complaint,
Synergy accuses Ironwood and Dr. Currie of, among other things,
unfair competition, fraud and unjust enrichment and seeks
$500 million in actual and punitive
damages.
About Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Synergy is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development of new drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders and
diseases. Synergy's proprietary drug candidate plecanatide is a
synthetic analog of the human gastrointestinal hormone uroguanylin,
and functions by activating the guanylate cyclase C receptor on
epithelial cells of the GI tract. Synergy completed a Phase I study
of plecanatide in healthy volunteers and a Phase IIa clinical trial
in patients to treat chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC)
patients. In October 2011, Synergy
initiated dosing of patients in a major Phase II/III clinical trial
of plecanatide in CIC patients. Plecanatide is also being developed
to treat constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, with
the first trial in IBS-C patients planned for 2012. Synergy's
second GC-C agonist SP-333 is currently in pre-clinical development
to treat inflammatory bowel diseases. More information is available
at http://www.synergypharma.com.
SOURCE Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc.