Nektar Therapeutics Shares Up 19%
January 10 2020 - 12:21PM
Dow Jones News
By Michael Dabaie
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) shares were up 19% at $25.74 in late
morning trading.
Nektar and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) said Friday they have
agreed to a new joint development plan for bempegaldesleukin plus
Opdivo, or nivolumab, in multiple new registrational trials. With
the revision to the companies' strategic collaboration agreement,
Nektar and Bristol-Myers Squibb will expand the active clinical
development program from three ongoing registrational trials to
include two additional registrational trials in adjuvant melanoma
and in muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
The companies said they also will initiate a Phase 1/2 dose
study to evaluate bempeg plus nivolumab in combination with
axitinib in first-line RCC in order to support a future
registrational trial.
The companies will share costs for these studies.
Bristol-Myers Squibb will also independently conduct and fund a
Phase 1/2 dose optimization and expansion study in first-line
non-small-cell lung cancer with bempeg and nivolumab.
"We believe Nektar will be up sharply on the news, both because
of the expansion in plans and the signal of confidence from BMY,"
SVB Leerink said in a note.
The two registration trials are in early-stage melanoma and
muscle-invasive bladder cancer-indications, where bempeg with
nivolumab had the strongest signals, the SVB note said.
"We like the strategy of moving bempeg + nivolumab to
early-stage settings, as data consistently shows
immunooncology...therapy is more effective the earlier it is given.
However, melanoma and bladder cancer are highly immunogenic and,
similar to the metastatic settings, Nektar and BMY will likely face
competition from other IO regimens," SVB Leerink said.
Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 10, 2020 12:06 ET (17:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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