Nektar Therapeutics is kicking through the rubble left months after the demolition of the company’s lead asset bempeg. It’s now pinning hopes on two clinical-stage assets set for critical milestones in the next two years.
You wouldn’t expect a company with some $500 million in cash and investments to be in such a precarious position, but that’s life in biotech, where clinical development is so costly and time-consuming. During the company’s presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Wednesday, CEO Howard Robin acknowledged the difficulty in seeing the Bristol Myers Squibb-partnered drug fall by the wayside after persistent failures.
“[U]nfortunately, the clinical trials did not meet their endpoints and I think that was a crushing blow for both companies,” said Robin. Bempeg’s implosion and the subsequent end of the BMS deal forced Nektar to lay off 70% of its staff. But the company is trudging forward, turning its attention to two remaining clinical-stage assets: autoimmune therapy rezpeg and oncology med NKTR-255.
The former is arguably the more consequential of the two, given that it's part of a collaboration with Eil Lilly, which is covering three-quarters of the development costs. The med is being developed in three indications, with a lead trial in lupus that’s slated to read out in the first half. The company is also developing rezpeg to treat atopic dermatitis in addition to a third indication that’s yet to be revealed. Robin does not expect work on the undisclosed indication to be contingent on results in the lupus trial.
“Mechanistically some of these autoimmune diseases probably respond better to proliferation of regulatory T-cells than others,” he said. “So I don't see any reason why one should be dependent on the other.” Robin added that he hopes to be able to disclose the third indication prior to the lupus readout but deferred to Lilly on the exact timing.
The other med behind Nektar’s comeback ambitions is a cancer combo hopeful, NKTR-255. The most notable of the combos is with cell therapies, with Nektar currently testing NKTR-255 in a phase 2 trial as an add-on to Gilead’s Yescarta or BMS’ Briyanzi. Chief Development Officer Mary Tagliaferri, M.D., said the goal is for response rates to jump more than 10% after the addition of NKTR-255.
Nektar’s focus on its pipeline front-runners comes after merger conversations with British biotech PureTech dissolved in October. The potential deal fell through after the discussions leaked, spurring a cascade of announcements around the talks as required by British law and ultimately resulting in the formal end to negotiations.
Editor's note: CEO Howard Robin's second quote was corrected to remove the word "liver."