Shareholders see through Protagonist's spin on trial failure

The stock market provided a telling assessment of Protagonist Therapeutics’ (Nasdaq: PTGX) presentation of its top-line results from the Phase II IDEAL study evaluating PN-943 in ulcerative colitis (UC).

Shares in the Californian company were 50% lower after trading on Tuesday as markets digested the fact that the 450mg twice-daily dose did not meet the prespecified primary endpoint.

"We believe the results of the IDEAL study may be paradigm shifting"PN-943 is an oral, gut-restricted, alpha-4-beta-7-integrin antagonist. In the trial, 159 patients with moderate-to-severe active UC were randomized to either twice daily with 450 mg or 150 mg PN-943, or placebo, for 12 weeks and analyzed for outcome measures.