NEW YORK, May 9, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:SGYP), a developer of new drugs to treat patients with gastrointestinal disorders and diseases, today announced its Chief Scientific Officer, Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., M.B.A., will give a plenary lecture on "Plecanatide and SP-333, Guanylate Cyclase-C Agonists: A New Class of Drug Candidates for Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders and Diseases," at The 15th Annual TIDES Summit, May 12-15, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA.
Guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) agonists are rapidly emerging as new orally administered drug candidates for treatment of multiple gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and diseases. The lecture will discuss the role of uroguanylin, the natural agonist of GC-C, in the normalization of GI physiology.
About Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Synergy is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new drugs to treat patients with gastrointestinal disorders and diseases. Synergy's lead proprietary drug candidate, plecanatide, is a synthetic analog of the natural human peptide hormone, uroguanylin, and functions by activating the guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) receptor on epithelial cells of the GI tract. Synergy completed positive Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in patients with chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC). Detailed positive findings from its large multicenter trial of plecanatide in patients with CIC are being presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Orlando, FL and will be published this year. Synergy is also developing plecanatide for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C), having initiated the first trial in IBS-C patients in late 2012. Synergy's second GC-C agonist, SP-333, is in clinical development for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). The first Phase I trial in healthy volunteers was recently completed. More information is available at http://www.synergypharma.com.