Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[sox040713]

Take a look at this deal after you stop laughing.

Johnson & Johnson commits $990M to land Protagonist’s oral Crohn’s drug (preclinical)

"Johnson & Johnson has landed rights to Protagonist Therapeutics’ preclinical Crohn’s disease asset PTG-200. The deal gives J&J a stake in an oral interleukin-23 (IL-23) receptor antagonist in return for $50 million upfront and up to $940 million in milestones."

"The asset is due to enter the clinic this year. Protagonist will run and fund the trial with J&J taking over—and covering 80% of the costs—once it advances to phase 2. Beyond this, a series of major paydays await Protagonist. J&J will pay Protagonist $125 million if it moves the drug into phase 2b and a further $200 million if it sticks with the asset after getting a look at data from the trial. The rest of the cash is tied to regulatory and sales milestones."

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/j-j-commits-990m-to-land-protagonist-s-oral-crohn-s-drug

Almost a $1B deal for a preclinical IBD drug. B-UP completed Phase 2a and will start Phase 2b next. It has been six months since the positive top-line data with endoscopic images. I expect B-UP to be the first deal announced. From Dr. B,

“So, it could treat throughout the GI tract and the technology for those kinds of deliveries have really gotten quite impressive in recent years that you can actually target certain areas of the GI tract where you can get pills to provide the active pharmaceutical ingredient to come out of the pill housing.

So, I think it would not be reinventing the wheel on how to do that. A lot of big pharms right now understand that themselves. Some actually have the technology available, but maybe lacking in terms of the right drug candidate with enough horsepower to treat the disease.

So that really just sets us up as Leo mentioned again toward a partnership. If that's appreciated, I think we could be in very good shape to move that in that direction without having to reinvent the wheel and really coming across the finish line effectively.”

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4080068-innovation-pharmaceuticals-ipix-ceo-leo-ehrlich-q3-2017-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single