Estimated cash runway now extended through Q1 2026
NEWARK, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2023 / Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) ("Protagonist" or "the Company") today announced it has received approximately $34.4 million in proceeds from the exercise of warrants to purchase 2.75 million shares of the Company's Common Stock. The warrants were issued in connection with an August 2018 equity financing and expired on August 8, 2023.
"These proceeds make Protagonist's cash position even stronger, with an estimated cash runway through the first quarter of 2026," said Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D., President and CEO of Protagonist. "Importantly, that estimate does not include $200 million in potential milestones associated with a successful Phase 3 study, NDA filing, and approval of JNJ-2113 in psoriasis," Dr. Patel continued.
The warrants were exercised for 44,748 shares of Common Stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 2,705,252 shares of Common Stock.
About Protagonist
Protagonist Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with peptide-based new chemical entities (NCEs) rusfertide and JNJ-2113 (formerly PN-235) in advanced stages of clinical development, both derived from the Company's proprietary technology platform. Protagonist scientists jointly discovered PN-235 (now known as JNJ-2113) as part of Protagonist's Interleukin-23 receptor (IL-23R) collaboration with Janssen and followed it through IND-enabling pre-clinical and Phase 1 studies, with Janssen assuming responsibility for further clinical development. Rusfertide, a mimetic of the natural hormone hepcidin, is the Company's lead drug candidate currently in a global Phase 3 development program. The Phase 2 REVIVE study is now complete, with an open-label extension underway. The global Phase 3 VERIFY study of rusfertide in polycythemia vera is ongoing. Protagonist retains all worldwide development and commercialization rights to rusfertide.
More information on Protagonist, its pipeline drug candidates and clinical studies can be found on the Company's website at protagonist-inc.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our estimated cash runway and our potential receipt of milestone payments under our collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "may," "will," "expect," or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, our ability to earn milestone payments under our collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., our ability to use and expand our programs to build a pipeline of product candidates, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, our ability to operate in a competitive industry and compete successfully against competitors that have greater resources than we do, and our ability to obtain and adequately protect intellectual property rights for our product candidates. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors affecting our business can be found in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in our most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
CONTACT:
Jami Taylor
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE: Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.