Cash-strapped Nektar outlines job cuts and pipeline focus

Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) has reacted to recent setbacks by taking actions expected to significantly reduce future operating expenses and extend its cash runway into the middle of 2026.

In February, the US biopharma reported that a study of rezpegaldesleukin (rezpeg) did not achieve its goals and that partner Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has decided not to proceed with Phase III development of the investigational treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus.

"We have made the decision to prioritize the advancement of our immunology programs"A year earlier, Nektar announced underwhelming results from pre-planned analyses of two late-stage studies of bempegaldesleukin (bempeg) in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) Opdivo (nivolumab) in renal cell carcinoma and bladder cancer. This led to the companies to end the global clinical development program for the combination.