Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. has formed a worldwide license and collaboration with Janssen Biotech Inc.
As part of the term agreement, Protagonist will be giving Janssen exclusive worldwide right to their oral peptide IL-23 receptor antagonist, PTG-200, which is in clinical development. Additionally, Protagonist will be given $50 million at the beginning and will be eligible for up to $940 million as development and sales goals are hit.
As the agreement states, Janssen and Protagonist will be co-funding the development of the antagonist through Phase 2, though the Phase 1 testing has not begun yet.
"We are very pleased to partner with Janssen, a world-leader in the development of innovative therapies for patients suffering with chronic inflammatory and immunomodulatory diseases," Protagonist President and CEO Dinesh Patel said.
Patel further specified that the funding from this agreement would allow the company to increase operations.
"Our oral peptide PTG-200 works by blocking the IL-23 pathway, a mechanism which has been proven by injectable antibodies, including an approved drug and others in different stage of clinical development," David Liu, Protagonist's chief scientific officer, said.
The company is optimistic about the agreement and the future of the oral peptide.
"As evidenced by PTG-200, we believe our technology platform is validated in its ability to generate potential first-in-class oral peptides as the next generation of targeted therapy drugs for IBD," Liu said.
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