This Biotech Just Neared A 17-Year High On Strong Cancer Regimen
Nektar Therapeutics ( NKTR ) launched to a nearly 17-year high Monday on strong combination data for its immuno-oncology drug combined with Bristol-Myers Squibb ‘s ( BMY ) Opdivo in skin, kidney and lung cancers.
[ibd-display-video id=2633855 width=50 float=left autostart=true]By the closing bell on the stock market today , Nektar soared by more than 14% to close at 37.10, after earlier rising as much as 27.2% to touch a high last seen in January 2001. Meanwhile, Bristol ticked up 0.2% to close at 60.99.
The data were presented at the 2017 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer annual meeting. Nektar’s drug, NKTR-214 , is designed to grow specific cancer-killing immune system cells and natural killer cell populations in the body to fight cancer.
Opdivo is what’s known as a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, which works to block specific interactions in the immune system that would prevent an immune response. It competes closely against Dow’s Merck ( MRK ), which makes a rival drug called Keytruda .
A total of 38 patients were enrolled in the dose-escalation phase of the trial, dubbed Pivot.
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As of Nov. 2, 63% of never-before-treated patients with advanced melanoma responded to the treatment. Of those, all signs of cancer disappeared in two patients and five had partial responses to the treatment.
In never-before-treated kidney cancer patients with at least one baseline scan, responses were seen in 46%, including one complete response and five partial responses. For patients with two or more prior scans, 60% responded to the combination.
Among advanced kidney cancer patients who’d already received at least two rounds of prior therapy, a partial response was observed in one of seven.
Three of four advanced lung cancer patients responded to the regimen. All signs of cancer disappeared in one patient. The other two patients had partial responses.
The most common side effects were low grade – including fatigue, flulike symptoms, rash and itching. There were no grade three or worse side effects at the dose recommended for testing in the continuing Phase 2 trial, Nektar said in a news release.
“In the dose-escalation stage of the Pivot trial, we’ve observed important response rates across all three tumor types,” said Mary Tagliaferri, senior vice president of clinical development at Nektar. “All patients with responses in the trial continue on treatment.”
Canaccord analyst Arlinda Lee boosted her price target on Nektar to 50 from 35 and kept her buy rating. She expects Nektar to target additional types of cancer using NKTR-214.
“In 2018, we expect clinical data for NKTR-214 plus Opdivo in renal cell carcinoma and sarcoma and other solid tumors, as well as potentially NKTR-214 in combination with ( Roche ‘s ( RHHBY )) Tecentriq and/or Keytruda,” she said in a note to clients.
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