another IPO...

After some time of speculation, Ironwood announced that it will go forward with a big time IPO this week that will hopefully finance the company's push towards finalizing development and commercialization of its lead drug linaclotide. Analysts seem to think the drug is a can't miss prospect, but with the mercurial nature of the stock market and investors lately, the IPO is not a sure thing. Along with Otsuka's planned IPO, I like this one...not a huge risk because the company has already started to prove its worth in R&D.

Read more here

And as many of you know, GSK announced today that it is going to cut about 4000 jobs in research and development, right on the heels of Astra Zeneca's statement that they were cutting 8000 workers. Similar to AZ, GSK will be doing the majority of the job cuts in the US and Europe while it works to expand its presence in developing markets. However GSK will still have a focus on developing new products in house...it seems just not with the same fervor as before. This clearly isn't good news for those GSK employees in the US, but is a clear indication of the changing markets of pharma and biotech.

The Times reports here

And finally for some lighter reading:

Here's a nice piece by Fierce Biotech on the top 10 deals in 2009 and one from BNet on upcoming FDA decisions and happenings in the biotech world