Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. Tanked 14.2% in July -- but Why?

Synergy Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGYP), a commercial-stage biopharma focused on gastrointestinal diseases, fell more than 14% in July, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. However, there wasn't any news released during the month that could justify the double-digit fall. That's just how things go when you're in small-cap biopharma land.

Synergy recently became a commercial-stage company after it won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its drug Trulance earlier this year. Trulance was approved as a treatment for chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC), a condition that affects about 35 million Americans.

While Trulance is going after a large patient population, success depends on the drug's ability to win market share away from Linzess, a CIC treatment marketed by Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) and Allergan (NYSE: AGN). Last year sales of Linzess exceeded $625 million in the U.S., so you can bet that Ironwood and Allergan will do everything in their power to protect their drug from the competition.

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Source: Fool.com