NEWARK, CA / ACCESS Newswire / June 16, 2026 / Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTGX) today reported that on June 15, 2026, it granted 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.
The new employees received, in the aggregate, options to purchase 14,800 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics common stock and restricted stock units (RSUs) to acquire 3,900 shares of Protagonist Therapeutics common stock. The exercise price of the options is $112.46, which is equal to the per-share closing price of Protagonist Therapeutics common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on June 15, 2026. The shares subject to each option vest over a four-year period, with 25 percent of the shares subject to the option vesting on the first anniversary of each employee’s 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 each employee entering into employment with the Company in accordance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Protagonist
Protagonist Therapeutics is a discovery through late-stage development biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary technology platform that enables de novo discovery of peptide therapeutics. Two novel peptides derived from Protagonist’s proprietary discovery platform are at or near commercialization. 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, is approved 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 development and commercialization. Protagonist also discovered and led development through Phase 3 of rusfertide, a first-in-class hepcidin mimetic peptide licensed to Takeda Pharmaceuticals. An NDA for rusfertide for the treatment of polycythemia vera is under priority review with the FDA. The Company also has a number of clinical and preclinical programs addressing clinically and commercially validated targets, including an oral IL-17 antagonist peptide, obesity dual and triple agonists, an oral hepcidin functional mimetic, and the recently announced IL-4 and amylin 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.
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
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