UPDATE: Brean Capital Lowers PT on Nektar Therapeutics Following NKTR-181 Phase 2 Trial Miss

In a report published Friday, Brean Capital analyst Jonathan Aschoff reiterated a Buy rating on

, but lowered the price target from $17.00 to $14.00. In the report, Brean Capital noted, “Nektar missed the primary endpoint in its Phase 2 trial with NKTR-181 in chronic pain patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Following a 1-month titration period on drug for all patients, patients were then randomized to receive their analgesic dose of NKTR-181 or placebo for 21 days. Although patients on NKTR-181 continued to experience a reduction in pain scores (46% reduction in pain score from pretitration baseline), patients on placebo did not experience the expected increase in pain scores (0% change). Results from both the titration phase and randomized phase showed that NKTR-181 provides pain relief comparable to existing opioids with fewer CNS effects. Nektar is investigating reasons for the absence of post-randomization pain rebound in the placebo arm. Perhaps more severe patients need to be enrolled in order to see a difference between drug and placebo. Nektar Therapeutics closed on Thursday at $13.85.