Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. announced that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase 2 study of PTG-300, an injectable hepcidin mimetic peptide in development for the treatment of patients with beta thalassemia, a rare disease characterized by chronic anemia and iron overload. The study is designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of PTG-300 in patients with transfusion-dependent or non-transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. In a completed Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers, administration of PTG-300 was well tolerated and demonstrated a dose-related and sustained reduction in serum iron levels. The global Phase 2 study is a single-arm, open label, multiple-ascending dose design which will evaluate safety, proof-of-concept and dose finding in approximately 84 adolescent and adult patients with anemia associated with non-transfusion-dependent or transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. Non-transfusion-dependent patients will receive 12 weeks treatment with PTG-300 in escalating dose cohorts. The primary efficacy endpoint in non-transfusion-dependent patients will be change in hemoglobin from baseline. Transfusion-dependent patients will receive 16 weeks treatment with PTG-300 in escalating dose cohorts. The primary efficacy endpoint in transfusion-dependent patients will be a change in transfusion burden from baseline.