Nektar links with drug majors to trial NKTR-255 with avelumab

Shares of US oncology specialist Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) rose 5% to $17.10, after it announced a deal with two pharma majors to trial its investigational interleukin-15 (IL-15) receptor agonist NKTR-255.

Under a new oncology collaboration with Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) and US giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), the companies will evaluate the maintenance regimen of NKTR-255 in combination with Bavencio (avelumab), a PD-L1 inhibitor, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) in the Phase II JAVELIN Bladder Medley study.

NKTR-255 is wholly-owned by Nektar and is currently being evaluated in two separate clinical studies in both liquid and solid tumors. The novel IL-15 agonist is designed to activate the IL-15 pathway to expand both natural killer (NK) cells and memory CD8+ T cell populations. Bavencio is co-developed and co-commercialized by Merck and Pfizer.