Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Promotes Dr. Mark Currie

“Mark’s outstanding contributions to Ironwood, including his expertise, leadership and superb judgment, are invaluable as we move our R&D efforts forward, growing our active pipeline and expanding our development efforts globally on behalf of our shareholders and the patients we aim to serve,” said Peter Hecht, chief executive officer of Ironwood. “Mark’s pioneering academic research on the guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) pathway, including his discovery of the natural hormones that activate GC-C, established the foundation for the discovery of linaclotide by Ironwood scientists, and he has led every aspect of linaclotide’s development and regulatory review, resulting in LINZESS™ (linaclotide) being the first and only GC‐C agonist approved in the U.S., Constella® (linaclotide) being the first therapy approved for patients with IBS-C in Europe, and linaclotide development programs advancing in Japan and China.”

Dr. Currie has led the company’s R&D efforts since he joined Ironwood in 2002 and previously served as senior vice president, R&D and CSO at Ironwood. Prior to that, he directed cardiovascular and central nervous system disease research as vice president of discovery research at Sepracor Inc. Previously, Dr. Currie initiated, built, and led discovery pharmacology and also served as director of arthritis and inflammation at Monsanto Company. Dr. Currie earned a B.S. in biology from the University of South Alabama and holds a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Bowman-Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University.