Protagonist Announces Appointment of Arturo Molina, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.P. as Chief Medical Officer

Accomplished hematologist-oncologist will provide medical, clinical development, and strategic operational leadership to the ongoing rusfertide Phase 3 development program

NEWARK, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) ("Protagonist" or "the Company") today announced the appointment of Arturo Molina, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.P. to the role of Chief Medical Officer, effective November 7, 2022.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Molina to Protagonist as our Chief Medical Officer," said Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Protagonist. "As a widely respected hematologist-oncologist and practicing physician, he brings a wealth of experience in clinical research and development, including a strong track record of advancing therapeutics from preclinical through Phase 1-3 studies, global regulatory approvals, and successful commercial launches. Arturo's immediate focus will align with our top priority—execution of the Phase 3 VERIFY study of rusfertide in polycythemia vera. With Arturo's arrival, we are further strengthening our world-class team at Protagonist, firmly dedicated to our mission of advancing new therapies to improve patients' lives."

"I am thrilled to join Protagonist at this exciting juncture," said Dr. Molina. "I believe rusfertide has the potential to transform the treatment paradigm and patient journey for people living with polycythemia vera. The opportunity to guide the Phase 3 VERIFY study forward to its successful completion, and to lead and support preparations for rusfertide's potential regulatory review and market approval, is exciting and well aligned to my personal commitment to bringing meaningful therapeutic innovations into settings of clinical practice and patient care."

Dr. Molina joins Protagonist from Sutro Biopharma, where he was Chief Medical Officer since 2016. Prior to Sutro, Dr. Molina was Vice President, Oncology Scientific Innovation at Johnson & Johnson. Earlier in his career, Dr. Molina was Chief Medical Officer at Cougar Biotechnology, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2009. From 1991 to 2002, Dr. Molina was a faculty staff physician in the Department of Hematology/Bone Marrow Transplantation and Department of Medical Oncology/Therapeutics Research at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and Adjunct Professor from 2002 to 2004. Dr. Molina earned his M.D. and M.S. in physiology degrees from Stanford University Medical Center, and a B.A. in psychology and B.S. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Molina maintains an Adjunct Clinical Faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine.

Protagonist Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with peptide-based new chemical entities rusfertide and PN-235 in advanced stages of clinical development, both derived from the Company's proprietary technology platform. Rusfertide, a mimetic of the natural hormone hepcidin, is the Company's lead drug candidate currently in a global Phase 3 stage of development. The VERIFY (Phase 3) and REVIVE (Phase 2) studies of rusfertide in polycythemia vera are ongoing. Protagonist owns all marketing rights to Rusfertide.

Protagonist has partnered with Janssen Biotech, Inc. on the development of PN-235 (JNJ-77242113) in moderate-to-severe psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. PN-235 is currently in multiple studies in psoriasis, led by Janssen.

Protagonist is headquartered in Newark, California. For more information on Protagonist, please visit the Company's website at www.protagonist-inc.com.

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 our intentions or current expectations concerning, among other things, the potential benefits of rusfertide to patients. 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 agreement with Janssen Biotech, the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on our discovery and development efforts, the impact of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and Russia on any future studies, 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.

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SOURCE Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.