The Fort Worth Press - Protagonist Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

NEWARK, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / May 6, 2025 / Protagonist Therapeutics (Nasdaq:PTGX) ("Protagonist" or "the Company") today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, and provided a corporate update.

"Protagonist is off to a very strong 2025 with multiple transformational events in the first quarter for our two late-stage partnered assets, rusfertide and icotrokinra which are progressing to NDA filings by year end," said Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D., the Company's President and CEO. "We look forward to presenting data from rusfertide's Phase 3 VERIFY study at a plenary session at ASCO on June 1^st. We're very pleased with the highly positive results from the icotrokinra Phase 2b ANTHEM study in ulcerative colitis which lay the foundation for additional studies in both UC and Crohn's. We are continuing to increasingly focus on advancement of our pre-clinical candidates including the oral IL-17 antagonist PN-881, as well as additional candidates emerging from our oral anti-obesity and oral hepcidin programs. We are fortunate to be in a very strong cash position, allowing us to independently and rapidly progress our early-stage pipeline into value-creating clinical safety and proof-of-concept studies starting with PN-881 in 2025."

First Quarter 2025 Recent Developments and Upcoming Milestones

Rusfertide: Subcutaneous Injectable Hepcidin Mimetic for Polycythemia Vera (PV) and Other Blood Disorders

Abstract accepted for presentation at the Plenary Session at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

• On March 3^rd, the Company announced positive topline results from the Phase 3 VERIFY study. Key findings include:

  • Study met primary endpoint with a significantly higher proportion of clinical responders[1] on rusfertide compared to placebo during weeks 20-32 (p

  • Study met all four key secondary endpoints (weeks 0-32)

    • Phlebotomy rate - EU primary endpoint (p

    • Hematocrit control

    • Patient-reported outcomes of PROMIS Fatigue and MFSAF TSS-7

  • Safety profile consistent with previous rusfertide studies, with no new safety signals

Icotrokinra (JNJ-2113): Oral IL-23 Receptor Antagonist

First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

• Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities: Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2025, were $697.9 million as compared to $559.2 million as of December 31, 2024.

• Net (Loss) Income: Net loss was $11.7 million, or $0.19 per basic and diluted share, for the first quarter of 2025 as compared to net income of $207.3 million, or $3.41 per basic share and $3.26 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2024.

[1] A responder is a patient who completed weeks 0-32 of the study, was not phlebotomy eligible and did not receive a phlebotomy during weeks 20-32. To meet phlebotomy eligibility, patients in the study were required to have: confirmed hematocrit ≥45% that was ≥3% higher than their baseline hematocrit value, or hematocrit ≥48%.

About Protagonist

Protagonist Therapeutics is a discovery through late-stage development biopharmaceutical company. Two novel peptides derived from Protagonist's proprietary discovery platform are currently in advanced Phase 3 clinical development, with New Drug Application submissions to the FDA potentially in 2025. Icotrokinra (formerly, JNJ-2113) is a first-in-class investigational targeted oral peptide that selectively blocks the Interleukin-23 receptor ("IL-23R") which is licensed to J&J Innovative Medicines ("JNJ"), formerly Janssen Biotech, Inc. Following icotrokinra's joint discovery by Protagonist and JNJ scientists pursuant to the companies' IL-23R collaboration, Protagonist was primarily responsible for development of icotrokinra through Phase 1, with JNJ assuming responsibility for development in Phase 2 and beyond. Rusfertide, a mimetic of the natural hormone hepcidin, is currently in Phase 3 development for the rare blood disorder polycythemia vera (PV). Rusfertide is being co-developed and will be co-commercialized with Takeda Pharmaceuticals pursuant to a worldwide collaboration and license agreement entered in 2024 under which the Company remains primarily responsible for development through NDA filing. The Company also has a number of pre-clinical stage oral drug discovery programs addressing clinically and commercially validated targets, including IL-17 oral peptide antagonist PN-881, oral hepcidin program, and oral obesity program.

More information on Protagonist, its pipeline drug candidates and clinical studies can be found on the Company's website at https://www.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 the potential benefits of icotrokinra and rusfertide, the timing of icotrokinra and rusfertide clinical trials, and timing of developments and announcements in our discovery programs. 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 agreements with Janssen and Takeda, 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.

Investor Relations Contact
Corey Davis, Ph.D.
LifeSci Advisors
[email protected]
+1 212 915 2577

Media Relations Contact
Virginia Amann
ENTENTE Network of Companies
[email protected]
+1 833 500 0061 ext 1

PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
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(1) Amount includes non-cash stock-based compensation expense.

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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
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SOURCE: Protagonist Therapeutics

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F.Carrillo--TFWP