Tranzyme Pharma Receives Notices of Allowance from USPTO on Two Patents Protecting...

Tranzyme Pharma Receives Notices of Allowance from USPTO on Two Patents Protecting Company's Lead Pharmaceutical Development Programs

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(Business Wire)--
Tranzyme Pharma, a leading biopharmaceutical company developing
novel mechanism-based therapeutics for the treatment of
gastrointestinal (GI) and metabolic disorders, announced today that
the Company has received Notices of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) for two patent applications entitled
"Macrocyclic Modulators of the Ghrelin Receptor" and
"Spatially-Defined Macrocyclic Compounds Useful for Drug Discovery".

Together, the patents expected to be issued based on these notices
of allowance, with anticipated terms until 2025 and 2024,
respectively, would provide strong and broad protection for the
chemical structural class comprising Tranzyme's primary pharmaceutical
development programs, including the composition-of-matter of TZP-101,
the Company's leading drug candidate. TZP-101 is an intravenous
ghrelin agonist that Tranzyme is evaluating in two concurrent Phase
IIb trials for the treatment of postoperative ileus (POI) and
gastroparesis. In addition, these patents will expand coverage around
the Company's proven drug discovery technology, Macrocyclic Template
Chemistry (MATCH(TM)), from which Tranzyme has developed its pipeline
of first-in-class therapeutics.

"These Notices of Allowance represent a significant milestone for
the Company as they will lead to the first patents related directly to
our pharmaceutical development programs and affirm the uniqueness and
patentability of our macrocyclic structures," stated Mark L. Peterson,
PhD, Vice President, Intellectual Property & Operations, for Tranzyme
Pharma.

About Postoperative Ileus

Postoperative ileus is a transient impairment of GI motility
following abdominal or other surgery with symptoms which can include
abdominal distention, pain, nausea and vomiting, and inability to pass
stools and tolerate a solid diet. Delays in resuming a normal diet may
lead to poor healing through a cascade of events, and patients are at
greater risk for pulmonary complications since POI may result in
reduced patient mobility. POI is associated with an increased length
of hospital stay and is the most common cause of delayed hospital
discharge after abdominal surgery. In the United States alone, it is
estimated that 22 million patients undergo surgical procedures
requiring pain management and of these patients, 2.4 million undergo
high risk open surgery each year (Source: Premier Database). No
unrestricted treatments for POI have been approved by the US Food and
Drug Administration to date.

About Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis is an impairment or paralysis of upper
gastrointestinal tract function characterized by delayed gastric
emptying in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Symptoms of
gastroparesis include post-prandial fullness, early satiety, abdominal
pain, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. Disease severity ranges from
mild to severe. Gastroparesis is a major complication of diabetes
leading to metabolic imbalance when liquid and food intake and
absorption of oral medications is impaired. Gastroparesis may also
result from abdominal surgery or be idiopathic in nature. Current
medications for the treatment of gastroparesis are only moderately
effective and many are associated with adverse neurological side
effects. It is estimated that approximately 5 million patients suffer
from gastroparesis in the United States.

About Tranzyme Pharma

Tranzyme Pharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company
focused on discovering and developing first-in-class therapeutics for
the treatment of both acute (hospital-based) and chronic
gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders with significant unmet
medical needs. Tranzyme's proprietary MATCH(TM) drug discovery
technology accelerates the progression of compounds from discovery to
commercial track by generating small molecule drug candidates that
display the favorable characteristics exhibited by large biomolecules,
such as tight receptor binding for high potency and exquisite target
selectivity, while maintaining the benefits typically associated with
small molecules including oral bioavailability, cost of synthesis, and
ease of formulation. For more information, please visit:
www.tranzyme.com.

Tranzyme Pharma
Vipin K. Garg, Ph.D.
President and CEO
919-313-4764
vgarg@tranzyme.com
or
Jennifer A. Filbey, Ph.D.
VP, Business Development
256-417-8568
jfilbey@tranzyme.com
or
Susan S. Josselyn
Corporate Communications Mgr
919-313-4761
sjosselyn@tranzyme.com

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