Protagonist hits near 2-year low as higher dose of bowel disease drug fails trial

Protagonist Therapeutics

26/04/2022 16:50

** Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics  PTGX.O  plunge nearly
53% to $8.91 in late morning trade - its lowest level in nearly
two years 
    ** Late Monday, co said higher dose of 450 mg of
experimental bowel disease drug PN-943 failed to meet primary
goal of mid-stage trial, while a lower dosage of 150 mg showed
improvement in patients with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory
bowel disease  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPn9v760ra
    ** SVB Leerink said investors will likely be apprehensive on
the replicability of the positive 150 mg results in a late-stage
trial, but brokerage itself is "confident that the pivotal trial
could be statistically significant, especially given a larger
sample size"; reiterates 'outperform' with PT of $50
    ** Another brokerage BTIG cuts its PT to $45 from $55
    ** All 8 brokerages covering PTGX rate stock "buy" or
higher; their median PT is $50
    ** Including session's slump, stock down by over two-thirds
YTD

 (Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeroyLeo7;))