Nektar Therapeutics is an
American biopharmaceutical
A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...
company. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
The company develops new drug candidates by applying its proprietary PEGylation and advanced polymer conjugate technologies to modify chemical structure of substances,
which improves drug characteristics like retention and solubility.
It is a technology supplier to a number of pharmaceutical companies including Affymax,
Amgen
Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...
,
Merck,
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...
and UCB Pharma, etc.
[ The company developed the world's first inhalable non-injectable insulin, Exubera, which was awarded as the bronze award by ]Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
for its technological breakthrough.
Background
The company is engaged in developing a proprietary pipeline of drug candidates for several therapeutic areas including oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...
, pain, anti-infectives, anti-viral and immunology
Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms.
Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...
.[ The company's research and development involve in small molecule and biologic drug candidates. Its drug candidate base consists of ]naloxegol
Naloxegol ( INN; PEGylated naloxol; trade names Movantik and Moventig) is a peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonist developed by AstraZeneca, licensed from Nektar Therapeutics, for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation. It wa ...
(Movantik), a Phase III oral opioid antagonist, etirinotecan pegol, a topoisomerase inhibitor under Phase III clinical study as of 2012, NKTR 061, NKTR-181, NKTR-214, etc.pharmacokinetics
Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to describing how the body affects a specific su ...
, pharmacodynamics
Pharmacodynamics (PD) is the study of the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiologic effects of drugs (especially pharmaceutical drugs). The effects can include those manifested within animals (including humans), microorganisms, or comb ...
, half-life, bioavailability and other areas of drugs for the patients worldwide.[
As of December 2024, at a stock price-per-share of roughly $1, the market cap is roughly $171 million. Nektar underwent periods of downsizing after unsuccessful partnerships were ended with ]Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was a Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company.
Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to ...
in 2023 and Bristol Myers Squibb
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Trade name, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies ...
in 2022, resulting in layoffs of most company employees.
Pipeline
Etirinotecan pegol was in the phase III BEACON trial as well as in the I-SPY2 adaptive clinical trial
In an adaptive design of a clinical trial, the parameters and conduct of the trial for a candidate drug or vaccine may be changed based on an interim analysis. Adaptive design typically involves advanced statistics to interpret a clinical trial ...
for breast cancer in 2016. The European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of pharmaceutical products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products ...
refused a marketing authorisation in 2017.
Bempegaldesleukin (NKTR-214) is a CD122-biased immune-stimulatory cytokine, Phase I results were announced in November 2016. It is now in a phase 2 trial in combination with nivolumab
Nivolumab, sold under the brand name Opdivo, is an anti-cancer medication in the class of immune checkpoint inhibitors. It selectively binds and blocks the programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor on T cells, thereby facilitating their activation ...
for various advanced cancers.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Pharmaceutical companies of the United States
Pharmaceutical companies established in 1990
Biotechnology companies established in 1990
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
1994 initial public offerings
Companies based in San Francisco
Health care companies based in California
Pharmaceutical companies