June 8, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEWARK, Calif. – Fresh off a nearly $1 billion vote of confidence from Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Bay Area-based Protagonist Therapeutics (PTGX) is driving forward with the development of oral peptides – which could become a game changer by disrupting the injectables market.
Protagonist is focused on developing oral peptides for the treatment of a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, including Crohn’s and inflammatory bowel syndrome. In May, the company struck a deal with J&J to develop and market PTG-200, Protagonist’s first-in-class, oral peptide Interleukin-23 receptor antagonist. The drug is currently in preclinical studies and is expected to being Phase I clinical trials in the second half of 2017.
At the time the deal was announced, Protagonist said PTG-200 has the potential to become a transformative treatment in IBD. The company said the oral drug is designed to offer significant advantages over injectable antibody drugs, including improved convenience, patient compliance and the potential for improved safety and tolerability compared to currently approved injectable antibody drugs.
That challenge to traditional injectable treatments piqued the interest of many industry watchers. In a June 7 interview with Business Insider, Protagonist Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Patel called oral peptides the “holy grail” of peptides. What makes it such a difficult quest is determining how the drug can be stable enough to make its way through the digestive tract to hit its disease target. The company has been successful so far, Patel said, and is moving forward with its compound into clinical trials.
While there are other companies developing oral peptides, what’s unique about Protagonist, Patel told Business Insider, is his company’s drugs are being developed to target illnesses that only injectable biologics have been developed to reach.
PTG-200 has similar targets to J&J’s injectable Stelara, Business Insider noted. Protagonist’s investigative gut drug is expected to complement Janssen’s programs for treatment of IBD. In addition to the IBD treatment it’s developing with J&J, Protagonist is also developing PTG-100, an alpha-4 beta-7 antagonist, for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. The drug, which is currently in Phase IIb development, could compete with Takeda’s vedolizumab, which generated $1 billion in 2016.
Additionally, Protagonist has a Phase I study of PTG-300, an injectable hepcidin mimetic peptide, for the treatment of patients with chronic iron overload in rare diseases such as beta-thalassemia.
While Protagonist has a long way to go before its oral peptides could be available for the market, the idea of an oral treatment is more appealing to many consumers as it avoids needles. Also, oral drugs are easier to transport, which cuts down on logistics concerns for companies.
Shares of Protagonist are up more than 3 percent this morning, trading at $10.99.
