Biotech Values

[ghmm]

NKTR / ARMO

I like(d) ARMO I had put in bids near the pricing range ($17) but at ~30 and 1B market cap I passed too for now but will keep watching. Some of the data looked quite interesting. It was also intriguing that they claimed reduced immune related events. But the normal caveats (open label, small n's, combo data, pd-1 status? ...) apply here as with Nektar.

A science person can probably answer a lot better than me on the differences. 214 and 010 are being tested in combo with PD-1 (but so are many other agents) and they are both cytokines, stimulating the immune system but there are vast differences too. I found this article quite informative if your interested more on the role of IL-10
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4322764/

They have an IL-15 (preclinical) that they say works similar to NKTR-214 (I didn't research to see how accurate a statement that is). Also an IL-12 and an anti-LAG-3... why their second program is an internal PD-1 doesn't make a lot of sense to me I'd focus more on the other pipeline programs.

As much as I liked ARMO there are some risks such as earlier studies were dosing between 5-20 mcg/kg and I didn't see a breakdown of response by dose (though small n's) current FOLFOX study is using just 5 mcg/kg. The SAE rate may become more of a concern perhaps that is why they are going with lower doses (though in some data it wasn't clear to me 10 mcg was much different then 20)?