Ironwood and Allergan Enter Agreement to Co-Promote VIBERZI for Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea in the US

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has announced an agreement with Allergan for the US co-promotion of Viberzi (eluxadoline), Allergan’s new treatment for adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D). This arrangement is separate from and complementary to the companies’ ongoing co-development and co-commercialization of Linzess (linaclotide) for the treatment of adults with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) or chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC).

“This collaboration enables Ironwood and Allergan to work together to bring forward two innovative medicines demonstrated to improve the abdominal pain and bowel dysfunction that define IBS-C and IBS-D, two types of IBS that impact nearly 30 million adult Americans,” said Bill Meury, executive vice president of commercial, North American brands for Allergan. “Allergan and Ironwood have an established and successful partnership co-promoting Linzess in the US market, and we have demonstrated the strength of our combined commercial teams in accessing and educating both gastroenterologists and primary care physicians.”

“The Viberzi co-promotion agreement is a natural extension of Ironwood’s focus on bringing innovative solutions to patients suffering from functional gastrointestinal disorders, and particularly disorders characterized by abdominal pain,” said Tom McCourt, chief commercial officer of Ironwood. “We believe our promotion of Viberzi will drive value for Ironwood and reinforce our market leadership position in this category. The co-promote requires no additional Ironwood investment and is synergistic with our existing commercial efforts for Linzess and Cologuard, further strengthening our commercial capabilities as we prepare to market additional gastrointestinal and primary care products.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ironwood’s clinical sales specialists will detail Viberzi to the approximately 25,000 health care practitioners to whom they currently detail Linzess and Cologuard. Linzess will remain the first-position product for the Ironwood sales team. Ironwood’s promotional efforts will be compensated based on the volume of calls delivered by Ironwood’s sales force, as well as agreed upon performance metrics. Allergan will be responsible for all other costs relating to the commercialization of Viberzi. The co-promotion will begin as soon as Viberzi is commercially available.