Tranzyme Pharma has been named in FierceBiotech’s annual Fierce 15 list. This distinction honors Tranzyme as one of the top 15 emerging biotech companies for 2005.

FierceBiotech, an internationally recognized email newsletter covering the biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets, evaluated hundreds of privately-held firms based on company vision, revenue potential, quality of deals, strength of technology, partnerships, and competitive market position.

“Tranzyme has been capturing attention for its lead small molecule product with significant potential in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and is at a critical stage as it leads up to an IND at the end of this year,” says John Carroll, FierceBiotech.

Tranzyme’s unique advantage comes from its ability to find small molecule agonists and antagonists for a variety of targets where typically only peptides and proteins have been effective. While the company has chosen to focus its internal development efforts on gastrointestinal diseases, Tranzyme’s technology has application to multiple broad target classes, including GPCRs and kinases.

During the coming months, the company will seek partnerships in other therapeutic areas to leverage the power of its proprietary technology.

“FierceBiotech is recognized for its advanced understanding of biotechnology companies and the industry as a whole," said Lindsay Donald, vice president, Business & Pre-clinical Development for Tranzyme Pharma.

Tranzyme Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel orally bio-available small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. The Company’s candidate drugs originate from its own discovery pipeline of proprietary compounds with high affinity for validated and drug targets in the GI tract.