Linaclotide

Sold as LINZESS · given by oral

Five to ten years until it comes off patent
7.5 yr
Until anyone may copy it
Protection runs to 2034-02-16
8
Trials running now
60 registered in total
In routine use
Furthest stage reached
already in routine clinical use
3
Organisations running trials
lead sponsors on record
01

Who owns it, and until when

Abbvie Inc
Approval holder
the only company permitted to sell it today
2034-02
Last patent expires
latest patent filed against this product
2029-05
FDA exclusivity ends
a separate protection granted at approval

Whichever date falls later is when other manufacturers may apply to sell copies. Price typically falls steeply within a year of that point, and with it any company's ability to recover the cost of new research on the molecule. That is when it becomes a candidate for the ledger on the first tab.

02

What it is being tested for

Chronic ConstipationIrritable Bowel Syndrome With ConstipaIrritable Bowel Syndrome
03

Who is paying for the research

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Company
11
Forest Laboratories
Company
9
Astellas Pharma Inc
Company
7

Who funds the trials matters after protection lapses. Company-funded work usually stops once exclusivity ends; university, hospital and government-funded work does not, and is the research most likely to continue on this molecule afterwards.

04

The trials themselves

NCT07780344No trials on record2026 · 12 people · not yet recruiting
MRI Parameters as Biomarkers in Cystic Fibro

Expiry dates are what the patent holder has filed; litigation, paediatric extensions and settlements routinely move them, so read these as the earliest plausible date rather than a schedule. Not medical advice.

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