Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Forward-Looking Information
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes to those financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on February 16, 2024, or the 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve significant risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, under “Part I, Item 1A—Risk Factors” in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K and under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.
Overview
We are a gastrointestinal, or GI, healthcare company dedicated to advancing the treatment of GI diseases and redefining the standard of care for GI patients. We are focused on the development and commercialization of innovative GI product opportunities in areas of significant unmet need, leveraging our demonstrated expertise and capabilities in GI diseases.
LINZESS® (linaclotide), our commercial product, is the first product approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or U.S. FDA, in a class of GI medicines called guanylate cyclase type C agonists, or GC-C agonists, and is indicated for adult men and women suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, or IBS-C, or chronic idiopathic constipation, or CIC, and for pediatric patients ages 6-17 years-old suffering from functional constipation, or FC. LINZESS is available to adult men and women suffering from IBS-C or CIC in the United States, or the U.S., Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, adult men and women suffering from IBS-C or chronic constipation in Japan, and IBS-C in China, and pediatric patients ages 6-17 with FC in the U.S. Linaclotide is available under the trademarked name CONSTELLA® to adult men and women suffering from IBS-C or CIC in Canada, and to adult men and women suffering from IBS-C in certain European countries.
We have strategic partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies to support the development and commercialization of linaclotide throughout the world, including with AbbVie Inc. (together with its affiliates), or AbbVie, in the U.S. and all countries worldwide other than China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Japan, AstraZeneca AB (together with its affiliates), or AstraZeneca, in China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Astellas Pharma Inc., or Astellas, in Japan.
We also aim to leverage our leading development and commercialization capabilities in GI to bring additional treatment options to GI patients.
In June 2023, we completed a tender offer to purchase 98% of the outstanding ordinary shares of VectivBio Holding AG, or the VectivBio Acquisition. In December 2023, we completed a squeeze-out merger under Swiss law to acquire all remaining shares and VectivBio Holding AG was merged with and into Ironwood Pharmaceuticals GmbH, our wholly-owned subsidiary organized under the laws of Switzerland. The VectivBio Acquisition was partially funded with $400.0 million of borrowings under a new revolving credit facility, or the Revolving Credit Facility, as further described in Note 9, Debt, to our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Through the acquisition, we are advancing apraglutide, a next-generation, synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2, or GLP-2, for rare gastrointestinal diseases, including short bowel syndrome with intestinal failure, or SBS-IF, as well as several earlier stage assets.
In November 2021, we entered into a collaboration and license option agreement, or the COUR Collaboration Agreement, with COUR Pharmaceutical Development Company, Inc., or COUR, that grants us an option to acquire an exclusive license to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize, in the U.S., products containing CNP-104, a tolerizing immune modifying nanoparticle, for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis, or PBC.
We are also advancing IW-3300, a GC-C agonist, for the potential treatment of visceral pain conditions, such as interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome, or IC/BPS, and endometriosis.