Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SGYP), a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of uroguanylin analogs as potential new treatments for functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and BIND Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIND), a clinical-stage nanomedicine company developing targeted and programmable therapeutics called ACCURINS®, announced they have entered into a research collaboration to engineer ACCURINS® incorporating Synergy’s proprietary uroguanylin analogs to explore the potential targeting of guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) receptors expressed on tumors, specifically GI malignancies. Upon achievement of proof-of-concept, the companies anticipate expanding the collaboration to enhance the potential effect of uroguanylin-based ACCURINS® by incorporating therapeutic payloads.
“This collaboration represents another important advance as we develop ACCURINS® with the potential to target a broad range of cells with novel therapeutic payloads,” said Jonathan Yingling, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, BIND Therapeutics. “The versatility of our platform is demonstrated by our wide range of collaborations and the ability to leverage our technology platform in a wide variety of applications. We believe the complementary technologies of Synergy and BIND have the potential to generate novel uroguanylin-based therapies that could have a profound impact on the treatment of diseases.”
Uroguanylin is a naturally occurring GI peptide and activator of the intestinal GC-C receptor, which is a known target for stimulating a variety of physiological responses. Plecanatide, Synergy’s lead uroguanylin analog for functional GI disorders, successfully completed phase 3 clinical trials for chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in 2015, and the Company recently filed a new drug application (NDA) for plecanatide to treat CIC. Synergy also recently announced positive data on its second uroguanylin analog, dolcanatide, in a phase 1b proof-of-concept study in ulcerative colitis patients.
“We are pleased to collaborate with BIND Therapeutics on this project, which we believe can broaden the potential therapeutic applications of our proprietary uroguanylin-based platform,” said Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., M.B.A., chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Synergy Pharmaceuticals. “BIND’s ACCURIN technology has been shown to target diseased tissues with a wide variety of therapeutic payloads. We have separately presented data showing that uroguanylin analogs specifically bind to different types of colorectal polyps and tumor in mice. Together, we believe that we can create uroguanylin-based ACCURINS® that have the potential to provide new treatment options in GI cancer.”
This early research collaboration is not expected to have a material financial impact on Synergy Pharmaceuticals or BIND Therapeutics. (Original Source)
Shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals are trading at $3.74, up $0.14 or 3.89%. SGYP has a 1-year high of $10.15 and a 1-year low of $2.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $4.17 and its 200-day moving average is $5.99.
On the ratings front, Synergy has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. In a report issued on February 1, Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ram Selvaraju reiterated a Buy rating on SGYP, with a price target of $20, which represents a potential upside of 449.5% from where the stock is currently trading. Separately, on November 12, Canaccord Genuity’s Corey Davis reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and has a price target of $19.
According to TipRanks.com, which ranks over 7,500 financial analysts and bloggers to gauge the performance of their past recommendations, Ram Selvaraju and Corey Davis have a total average return of -0.1% and -1.8% respectively. Selvaraju has a success rate of 38.9% and is ranked #1967 out of 3579 analysts, while Davis has a success rate of 36.0% and is ranked #2586.
Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc is a biopharmaceutical company. It engages in the development of drugs to treat gastrointestinal, or GI, disorders and diseases.
