Blockbuster dreams quashed, Ironwood drops AstraZeneca’s $1.3B gout drug disaster

AstraZeneca paid $1.3 billion to buy the experimental gout drug lesinurad. They handed over US rights to Ironwood $IRWD for much, much less two years ago — after it was approved on mixed efficacy and safety data. And now the Cambridge, MA-based biotech is punting it back after watching the treatment flounder on the market.