Nektar Therapeutics Presents Pre-Clinical Data Combining NKTR 214 With Checkpoint Blockade

Nektar Therapeutics NKTR disclosed fresh preclinical data for its investigational immune-stimulatory cytokine therapy, which is known as NKTR-214 that exhibited both its activity and its synergistic activity with checkpoint blockade. The company stated that in a TCR repertoire analysis conducted, the integration of NKTR-214 and a checkpoint inhibitor resulted in dramatically higher increases for both parameters versus dual checkpoint inhibition.

Nektar said the data was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA on April 17.

The company's VP of Biology, Jonathan Zalevsky, commented that "We are particularly excited by these new preclinical data for the combination of NKTR-214 with a checkpoint inhibitor which show an induced oligoclonal T cell response along with high TIL infiltration." He added "These data demonstrate that the addition of NKTR-214 to either an anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1 agent could improve T cell clonality differences over checkpoint blockade therapies."

Nektar's SVP and Chief Scientific Officer, Steve Doberstein, also commented by saying that "Our latest preclinical findings continue to show that treatment with NKTR-214 either as a single-agent or in combination with checkpoint blockade is superior to single or dual checkpoint inhibition in multiple models. These new data emphasize the cellular mechanisms underlying the remarkable efficacy of NKTR-214 in our preclinical models of cancer."

On Monday, the stock traded higher by 0.3 percent.