NEWARK,
Calif., April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Protagonist
Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTGX) today reported that on
April 18, 2022, it issued inducement
awards to three recently hired employees in accordance with the
terms of their employment offer letters. The awards were granted
under the Protagonist Therapeutics Amended and Restated Inducement
Plan, which was adopted May 29, 2018,
and amended February 18, 2020 and
February 15, 2022.
Asif Ali, Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer, received options to purchase
82,500 shares and restricted stock units (RSUs) to acquire 13,750
shares, respectively, of Protagonist Therapeutics common stock. Two
additional new employees received, in the aggregate, options to
purchase 75,000 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics common
stock.
The exercise price of the options is $19.19, which was the per-share closing price of
Protagonist Therapeutics common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market
on April 18, 2022. The shares subject
to the option vest over a four-year period, with 25 percent of the
shares subject to the option vesting on the first anniversary of
the employees' date of hire and the remainder vesting in equal
monthly installments over three years thereafter. One-fourth of the
shares underlying the RSUs will vest annually over a four-year
period. The awards were approved by the compensation committee of
the Company's board of directors and were granted as a material
inducement to entering into employment with the Company in
accordance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Protagonist Therapeutics
Protagonist Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with
multiple peptide-based new chemical entities in different stages of
clinical development, all derived from the Company's proprietary
technology platform.
Protagonist's pipeline includes rusfertide, an investigational,
injectable hepcidin mimetic currently in the REVIVE Phase 2
proof-of-concept clinical trial for polycythemia vera (PV), the
PACIFIC Phase 2 study in PV subjects with high hematocrit levels,
and a recently completed Phase 2a study for hereditary
hemochromatosis. The Company has opened sites and initiated patient
screening for VERIFY, a single, global Phase 3 randomized,
placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of a
once weekly, subcutaneously self-administered dose of
rusfertide.
The Company is also evaluating an orally delivered,
gut-restricted alpha-4-beta-7 integrin specific antagonist peptide
(PN-943), currently in the IDEAL Phase 2 study in adults with
moderate to severe active ulcerative colitis. The Company is
targeting ulcerative colitis as the initial indication. Data
readout from the Phase 2 study is expected in the second quarter of
2022.
Protagonist has granted Janssen an exclusive worldwide license
to research, develop and commercialize oral IL-23 receptor
antagonists based on the Company's intellectual property. Current
development efforts are centered on PN-235, discovered by
Protagonist and further developed in collaboration with Janssen.
FRONTIER 1, a Phase 2b multicenter,
randomized, placebo controlled, dose-ranging study to evaluate the
safety and efficacy of PN-235 for the treatment of
moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, commenced in early 2022.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/protagonist-therapeutics-reports-granting-of-inducement-awards-301528434.html
SOURCE Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.