Janssen to shell out nearly $1 billion for rights to IBD candidate PTG-200

Janssen Biotech, part of US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), has entered into a worldwide license deal for the co-development and commercialization of PTG-200.

The drug is US biotech firm Protagonist Therapeutics' (Nasdaq: PTGX) first-in-class, oral peptide interleukin (IL)-23 receptor antagonist for all indications including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and news of the deal sent the firm’s shares skyrocketing 72.5% to $14.27 in early trading today.

PTG-200 is expected to enter Phase I clinical testing in normal healthy volunteers in the second half of 2017. The agreement builds upon a Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc Series B venture financing from 2013 in support of the discovery and development of Protagonist's pipeline of oral peptide therapeutics.