NEWARK, CA / ACCESS Newswire / September 8, 2026 / Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTGX) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to $300 million of its outstanding common stock.
The Company intends to fund the share repurchases from its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and from royalties and other payments received under the Company's collaboration arrangements with Takeda related to MIMRYLOTM (rusfertide) and with Johnson & Johnson related to ICOTYDETM (icotrokinra). As of June 30, 2026, the Company had $849.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which does not include a $200 million opt-out payment or a $75 million milestone payment the Company earned in August 2026 under its collaboration agreement with Takeda. The Company expects to receive the payments from Takeda in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The timing and exact amount of any repurchases will depend on a variety of factors, including market conditions, the trading price of the Company's common stock, the timing and amount of royalties and other payments received pursuant to the Company's collaboration arrangements, alternative capital deployment opportunities and general market conditions, among others.
The repurchase program does not obligate Protagonist to acquire any specific number of shares and may be modified, suspended or discontinued at any time without prior notice. Under the program, stock repurchases may be made from time to time in open market or other transactions, which may include transactions pursuant to a trading plan adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
About Protagonist
Protagonist Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company built on a proprietary peptide technology platform that has now produced two FDA-approved, first-in-class medicines, generating royalties and milestones from global commercial partnerships with Johnson and Johnson and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. ICOTYDE (icotrokinra), licensed to Johnson & Johnson company Janssen Biotech, Inc., is the first and only targeted oral peptide that precisely blocks the Interleukin-23 receptor. ICOTYDE was launched in the U.S. in March 2026 for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age or older and is in Phase 3 development for psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. ICOTYDE was jointly discovered by Protagonist and Johnson & Johnson scientists, with Protagonist having primary responsibility for the development of ICOTYDE through Phase 1, and Johnson & Johnson assuming responsibility for further clinical and regulatory development and commercialization. Protagonist also discovered and led research and development through Phase 3 for MIMRYLO (rusfertide), a first-in-class hepcidin mimetic peptide licensed to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for worldwide commercialization. MIMRYLO is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of erythrocytosis in adults with PV. The Company also has a number of clinical and preclinical programs based on clinically and commercially validated targets and addressing unmet medical needs, including an oral IL-17 antagonist peptide, anti-obesity dual and triple agonists, an oral hepcidin functional mimetic, and the recently announced IL-4 and amylin discovery programs.
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 company's ability to execute the stock repurchase program and expectations related to the timing and amount of future royalty and milestone payments pursuant to the Company's collaboration arrangements. 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
cdavis@lifesciadvisors.com
+1 212 915 2577
Media Relations Contact
Virginia Amann
ENTENTE Network of Companies
virginiaamann@ententeinc.com
+1 833 500 0061 ext 1
SOURCE: Protagonist Therapeutics
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/protagonist-therapeutics-announces-300-million-share-repurchase-progr-1218162
