PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS,INC. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Files An 8-K Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS,INC. (NASDAQ:PTGX) Files An 8-K Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement
Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On December21, 2018, Protagonist Therapeutics,Inc. (the “Company”) entered into an exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with entities affiliated with Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. (the “Exchanging Stockholders”), to which the Company exchanged an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.00001 per share (the “Common Stock”), owned by the Exchanging Stockholders for pre-funded warrants (the “Exchange Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of common stock (subject to adjustment in the event of stock splits, recapitalizations and other similar events affecting common stock), with an exercise price of $0.00001 per share. The Exchange Warrants will expire ten years from the date of issuance. The Exchange Warrants are exercisable at any time prior to expiration except that the Exchange Warrants cannot be exercised by the Exchanging Stockholders if, after giving effect thereto, the Exchanging Stockholders would beneficially own more than 9.99% of Common Stock, subject to certain exceptions. The holders of the Exchange Warrants will not have the right to vote on any matter except to the extent required by Delaware law. The Exchange Warrants were issued without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), in reliance on the exemption from registration contained in Section3(a)(9)of the Securities Act.

The description of the Exchange Agreement and the Exchange Warrant are not complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the Exchange Agreement and the form of Exchange Warrant, which are filed as Exhibit10.1 and Exhibit4.1, respectively, to this Current Report on Form8-K and incorporated herein by reference. The representations, warranties and covenants made by the Company in the Exchange Agreement and the Exchange Warrant were made solely for the benefit of the parties to the Exchange Agreement and the Exchange Warrant, as applicable, including, in some cases, for the purpose of allocating risk among the parties thereto, and should not be deemed to be a representation, warranty or covenant to investors. Moreover, such representations, warranties or covenants were made as of an earlier date. Accordingly, such representations, warranties and covenants should not be relied on as accurately representing the current state of our affairs.

Item 3.02 Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities.

The information contained in Item 1.01, above, is hereby incorporated by reference.

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Appointment of Certain Officers.

On December22, 2018, Thomas P. O’Neil informed the Company of his intention to voluntarily resign from his position as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, effective January11, 2019. Mr.O’Neil’s resignation is not due to a dispute or disagreement with the Company. The Company will initiate a replacement search.

Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D. will serve as Interim Principal Financial Officer effective January11, 2019. Dr.Patel, age 61, has served as a member of the Company’s board of directors and as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer since December2008. Dr.Patel has more than 30years of executive, entrepreneurial and scientific experience spanning the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. Prior to joining the Company, Dr.Patel served from 2006 to 2008 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Arête Therapeutics, a privately held company focused on the development of drugs for metabolic syndrome. Prior to that, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Miikana Therapeutics, an oncology-based company, from 2003 until it was acquired by Entremed (later renamed CASI Pharmaceuticals) in 2005. Prior to Miikana, Dr.Patel held positions of increasing responsibility at Versicor (later renamed Vicuron and which was acquired by Pfizer in 2015), from 1996 to 2003, most recently as Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Licensing. Prior to Vicuron, Dr.Patel was a director of chemistry at the combinatorial chemistry company Affymax, from 1993 to 1996. Dr.Patel was a medicinal chemist at BristolMyers Squibb from 1985 to 1993. Dr.Patel received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rutgers University, New Jersey and his B.S. in Industrial Chemistry from S.P.University, Vallabh Vidyanagar,India.